PLANS have been put forward by the chief executive of Malvern Hills District council and Wychavon District Council, to combine the senior management teams of the two authorities, in a bid to save hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The two councils are currently controlled by nine senior managers, but the plans being proposed would see that reduced to six, which would save each authority £140,000 a year.

The two councils claim they have already saved £190,000 with the appointment of Jack Hegarty as joint chief executive and managing director, and they are hoping to make further reductions to the senior management team through voluntary redundancies, which would cost approximately £220,000, a cost which would be accounted for with a Government grant received by both councils to transform the way they work.

The intention is for the changes to have no impact on the day-to-day delivery of services in either district, while both councils would remain as independent organisations.

Councillors will now vote on the proposal in Malvern Hills on October 20 and in Wychavon on October 21. If approved, the changes are expected to take 12-18 months to implement.

Councillor Linda Robinson, leader of Wychavon District Council, said: “We’ve already demonstrated how sharing senior management can benefit both organisations as well as save money and this seems the next logical step.

“We have a very talented group of staff who I’m confident will be able to manage the changes to ensure the needs of Wychavon residents continue to be met and crucially, the decision-making will still be done by Wychavon councillors.”

Councillor Phil Grove, leader of Malvern Hills District Council, added: “Despite facing severe cuts to our funding, we’ve made a commitment to protect front line services as much as we possibly can. That requires us to look at measures such as this.

“The important thing is we remain separate organisations and it will continue to be Malvern Hills councillors setting the priorities and making the decisions.”