The board, made up of members from both councils, considered the plans on Thursday, August 18, and agreed they should now be sent to both full council meetings where a final decision may be made. These meetings will be held in Redditch on September 5 and in Bromsgrove on September 14.
The councils started sharing services in 2008 and services such as community safety, Lifeline, ICT, payroll, communications and most recently leisure have already been shared. A single management team also serves both councils.
This latest proposal would speed up the remainder of the process by more than a year and see all services shared, where possible. The remaining services to be shared are customer services, environmental services which includes waste and recycling, financial services, legal and democratic services, and secretariat and directorate support services.
The board also approved business cases for fully sharing car parking with Wychavon District Council, and sharing local land drainage and emergency planning services with Wyre Forest District Council. These will also now be taken forward for consideration and formal decisions.
Leader of Redditch Council, Councillor Carole Gandy said: “This is a tough time not only for local government which has increasing pressures and dwindling funding, but for staff too.
“By moving this programme forward we can make savings which will mean we can deliver the services to our customers which they expect – and can shorten the period of uncertainty which staff are facing.”
Leader of Bromsgrove District Council leader, Councillor Roger Hollingworth said: “We are already seeing the success of shared services in action across both councils – and so are our customers.
“By speeding up the process we will not have to eat into our reserves, which is what we have been forced to do this year as funding has been cut, which puts both councils in a strong position to continue to serve our residents.
“I want to stress that we are still two separate councils politically and geographically. We are simply sharing best practice and pooling resources behind the scenes to ensure the best service delivery on the ground.”
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Quelle/Source: Bromsgrove Advertiser, 22.08.2011
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