Gritters
MERSEYSIDE councils will begin to share services within six to 12 months in a bid to save cash, the Daily Post can reveal.
Council chiefs are trying to plug black holes in their budgets following a meeting of the region’s five council chief executives which was brokered by Liverpool council leader Joe Anderson.
The move to share services means one authority will carry out work for other districts across the city region. In return, other Merseyside councils will carry out work for their counterparts.
Areas under consideration include gritting, leisure services, payment rolls and legal services.
Cllr Anderson told the Daily Post: “I raised the issue of procurement and sharing services together with a view to save money because we need to save money.
“I called on all the leaders of the councils on Merseyside to look at it.
‘‘We are looking at options to save money between us. They were all certainly up for it.” He added: “If it’s legal services, Sefton could save money by using ours (Liverpool city council’s). Why have six different payment roll departments?
“It’s to do with saving money. If you can do this through procurement you can save money.
“We have the chief executives working at it. It takes time but there is a determination.”
He said: “It’s to do with saving the ratepayers’ money in these areas. In difficult times money is getting tight. We are looking at saving money wisely.
“Knowsley and Liverpool work together on certain areas, but we have to push it on further. It takes six to 12 months for any real progress in this area.”
The idea has been supported by most of the other council leaders on Merseyside.
New Sefton council leader Peter Dowd said: “We have to explore options like shared services between the councils of Merseyside. It could be finance services shared between the authorities.”
Steve Foulkes, Labour leader of Wirral Council, said he believed progress would be easier because of Labour’s leadership in all five of the Merseyside councils. “We have all talked about this for a long time. We have to focus back on the government cuts to make savings. If one authority did the payroll that would be easier than six,” he said.
