Moving closer together through shared management

There will also be a unified structure which will see staff working across the Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury council boundaries. Initial savings are estimated to be in excess of £2 million.

A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed by the two councils in December 2010 and since then work has been going on to create the environment for a number of services, mainly 'back office' support services, to join together. Now the councils have agreed to go a step further and have a shared senior management as well as services.

In a joint statement, Cllr John Griffiths, St Edmundsbury Borough Council Leader, and Cllr James Waters, Forest Heath District Council Leader, said:
"Council Tax payers and businesses throughout West Suffolk are facing tough financial times and we need to do all we can to make sure we tightly control council costs. Cutting those costs by sharing a Chief Executive and senior managers is a logical next step. Having a single structure, with skilled and experienced staff seamlessly providing high quality services wherever people need them makes a much better use of our limited resources. Coming together in this way also puts us in a stronger position to develop other partnerships where we could make further savings or generate income to help minimise the financial burden for people living and working in West Suffolk. We believe that this is the best possible result for people in West Suffolk and for both councils, enabling us to support our communities by continuing to provide good quality, real value for money services."

Negotiations between the two councils have covered areas such as how costs and savings will be shared, consulting staff on a shared pay structure and conditions, levels of service in each area and governance (how councillors will agree processes and monitor progress). The next step is for a timeline and process to be agreed for the appointment of a shared Chief Executive, corporate directors and heads of service.