STAFF redundancies are on the cards as part of a major reorganisation at Malvern Hills District Council.

Chief executive Chris Bocock said streamlining the council's management would result in a more efficient service and hopefully boost flagging staff morale in the long run, despite the threat of redundancies.

"Staff morale in local Government nationally has been on a downward spiral over the past five to 10 years," he said.

"Part of these reorganisation proposals are aimed at turning this around.

"One of the issues is that we are under-resourced and the new structure will try to make better use of resources to ensure staff are less stretched."

Mr Bocock's restructuring plans were revealed to the district council's executive committee and follow months of staff consultation.

At least one of the council's four corporate directors is likely to be made redundant as the new structure only has three posts available.

Discussions have already taken place with trade union representatives who specified there should be no compulsory redundancies.

"In the spirit of seeking to avoid any compulsory redundancy situation I have sought volunteers for either redundancy or early retirement from within the current corporate management team," said Mr Bocock's report.

"At the time of this report there has been no response to this invitation. I must therefore assume that one of the four employees will be at risk of compulsory redundancy,"

Councillor Tom Wells expressed his concern.

"I think we will be in no doubt as to what this will mean in the reduction of staff at the middle level.

"My understanding is that it will be perhaps halved," he said.

Any redundancies will take effect in April.

Mr Bocock said the restructure was vital to ensure Malvern Hills District Council was prepared to meet the needs of Malvern district people in the future.

"This review has not been undertaken lightly or with undue haste but we need to act now," Mr Bocock told councillors.

The new structure will bring together various linked departments which have until now been working separately.

The aim is to reduce overlapping responsibilities and ensure Malvern district taxpayers are given better value for money while leaving the council's senior managers with more time to concentrate on their managerial roles.

The reorganisation will also ensure the district council is better equipped for the future by creating more capacity to respond to new challenges and services.

The council's executive committee gave the go-ahead to the new structure which will be installed as soon as possible.