Four councils in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire are proposing setting up a jointly-owned company to deliver frontline services, such as waste collections, in a bid to save money.

Councillors from Cotswold, Forest of Dean and West Oxfordshire District Councils and Cheltenham Borough Council set out the plan in their ‘2020 Vision for Joint Working’ report yesterday (29 May), which will now be sent to each council’s Cabinet for consideration in June.

Specifically, the report proposes employing ‘a small number of expert advisors… either from the private and voluntary sectors or from local authority-owned service delivery companies’ to commission and monitor the services provided to approximately 400,000 residents, such as waste collection, management, and auditing. However, the partnership stresses that each local authority will continue to ‘set policies and make decisions in the best interest of their residents and communities’.

The plans have been brought about following central government cuts, and aim to ‘transform the way… services run in order to deliver more efficiency savings and protect public services’.

Indeed, the councils estimate that, if approved, the joint working could save them more than £55 million over 10 years through ‘reductions in operational costs arising from reduced management and staffing costs’, and ‘protect valued frontline services, whilst [enabling them to] remain as independent authorities with their own elected councillors representing local people’.

‘A natural and logical progression along an innovative transformational agenda’

Speaking of the plans, Councillor Lynden Stowe, Leader of Cotswold District Council, said: “The proposition set out in this report represents perhaps the most radical joint working approach in local government today. It is a proper, considered response to a challenge not only of how to best use a smaller and reducing public subsidy but also how to make best use of technology, how to encourage and use a competitive market, and how to make smart use of managerial and other expertise.

“However, our proposals should also be seen as a natural and logical progression along an innovative transformational agenda which the councils have been delivering over recent years. We should take great encouragement from what has already been achieved.”

Councillor Patrick Molyneux, Leader of Forest of Dean District Council, added: “In simple terms amalgamating the support services of four councils would see a reduction in operating costs and an increase in efficiencies. By reducing the administration and running costs of the councils we can spend a bigger proportion of our budget on delivering the frontline services our communities need, while keeping the democratic decision making of local councillors intact. Local services, local democracy, lower costs … with the additional benefit of greater resilience.”

Cotswold, Forest of Dean and West Oxfordshire District Councils and Cheltenham Borough Council already share a number of 'back office' functions, including finance, human resources and payroll. Further, Cheltenham Borough Council and Cotswold District Council also own Ubico Ltd, a company set up to deliver the two councils’ waste collections and environmental services.

It is this history of joint working that Councillor Barry Norton, Leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, says “provides a very strong basis to support a new model for local government”.

The partnership was awarded a £500,000 Transformation Grant by central government in April to look to strengthen the shared working arrangement. This will assist work on the new proposed arrangements.

Read the ‘2020 Vision for Joint Working’ report.