Weymouth council saves £2 million in West Dorset merger

One year on from deciding to work together, councillors at West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council will hear next week that the partnership they have created to deliver services is well on track to hit its £2 million a year savings target.

The partnership has now delivered a permanent reduction in the budget of the two councils of over £1.1million in the first year, by restructuring management arrangements, deleting vacant jobs, renegotiating audit and IT contracts and removing duplication.

The first year saving for the partnership and other details are covered in a report going to the borough council's Management Committee and district council's Executive Committee on 5 July.

The report asks councillors to consider the pace for taking the partnership forward to reach the £2 million a year savings in the future, in the light of major cuts to Government grants at both councils.

Expected one-off costs incurred as a result of setting up the partnership total just under £800,000 across the two councils.  These cover redundancy payments plus IT, HR and legal expenses and were allowed for as part of the partnership's original business case.

David Clarke, Chief Executive for West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, said: "I'm pleased with progress of the partnership so far. 

"We budgeted for early one-off set up costs but the savings generated will help to give financial stability in years to come.

"Thanks to the foresight of both councils in forging this partnership they are in the extremely rare position among public sector organisations of not having to deal with wholesale cuts to valued front line services."

Councillors from both authorities took the decision to combine their workforces in July 2010 and joint directors, service managers and chief executive have been appointed.

The next step will be to systematically merge all the rest of the two workforces and IT systems and bring HR policies and practices together with much of this work to be completed by March 2012.

Although the workforces are being combined, the two councils will continue to function as independent decision-making bodies for the borough and the district.  

They will each set their own budgets and council tax, and will continue to ensure that local services are delivered appropriately for each area.

The 5 July partnership report can be found on www.dorsetforyou.com/committees under West Dorset District Council Executive Committee agendas or Weymouth & Portland Borough Council Management Committee agendas.