Manchester and Salford councils are looking at merging nine more departments to save cash.
As we revealed, plans have been drawn up to create one legal service for the two cities. But we have learned details of other mergers being explored.
IT and procurement are next on the list of services that could be merged. And there are even more mergers being explored as Manchester and Salford look to save £150m between them this year.
All 10 Greater Manchester councils have been looking into shared working for some time. But it is the first time the scale of Manchester and Salford’s potential partnership has been revealed.
A Salford council document says other areas of the council being explored jointly with Manchester council include ICT, transport, customer services, training, democratic services, procurement, HR and payroll and life chances.
It adds: “Efforts are now focussing on aligning effort to those likely to deliver more immediate results in 2011, starting with a more detailed analysis of ICT services and procurement and their potential for shared services.”
Salford council leader John Merry insisted there would not be a wholesale merger of all services.
He said: “It’s not going to be about merging everything, because both cities are very proud of their own identities.
They are services of a largely technical nature where it doesn’t ly matter who does them. Those of us elected by our own particular electorates need to preserve and protect their interests – so you can’t merge it all together.”
He added: “As far as possible this would be agreed by natural wastage.
“It’s not about making compulsory redundancies.”
Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese said the plans were complimentary to work already going on within the 10 Greater Manchester authorities – and won’t come to fruition straight away.
He said: “These are not quick wins.
“This is more likely to be years three and four of the government’s cuts rather than the current year or next.”
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Mr Merry, since when has legal services and HR been 'technical'. Why dont Salfod Council per se just merge with Manchester, or are the Councillors expenses too tempting.
Manchester are already claiming Salford only decent area , the quays as theirs in most of their publcity. Recently in the MEN Barbara Spicer says she has a Father daughter relationship with Bernstein Chief ex of Manchester. Why not take the extended family of Salford coucnil with you and make proper savings. As an ex Salfordonian living in Manchester I can say that the only reason Salford has life chances is because years of neglect, poor civic administration, overpaid executives and Councillors who just won't engage with their public.
Salford isnt city it has no centre, a mogrel city of swinton Eccles worsley etc!
Why not merge the two cities totally and then we can do away with people like Merry and antrobus who have a lot to say but do nothing.
I can see the slogan Salchester or Mancford rearing there heads again! - Why not just have a merged council and change the signs to something like Manchester with Salford! a bit like Buda and Pest!
What strange times we live in, where the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) members consider sharing resources to reduce spending from two members that have City status and yet have one of their members, Stockport ,currently bidding to be a city and doing the exact opposite! Well it would happen as Dave Goddard is Chair of the AGMA and leader of Stockport Council.
What a waste of time and money the AGMA is.
Good idea.
The West Midlands is like Greater Manchester - it has about the same population. but it has seven councils, not ten.
Birmingham City Council area has a population of about a million and the other boroughs there are larger too. We should merge councils in Greater Manchester until we have seven boroughs too.
Merge Salford with Manchester, Tameside with Stockport and Oldham with Rochdale. that'd do it.
Why did it have take the threat and reality of central government cuts to force this sort of cost-saving thinking on the councils?
The title City does not give a Council greater powers as an example Preston although a City has only limited autonomy as most local government in that City is provided by the Lancashire County Council.
How about going back to one County council just one body can do the lot. do we really need 10 town halls. one Head office with local management but all taking money out the same pot and buying in for the full County. you always save by buying bulk from buying pen`s to buying bin lorry's. it time to take away all the depts doing the same role but by doing this they will be mass job cuts.
It wouldnt have anything to do with the BBC moving to salford would it? It just seems a co-incidence that a meger is in the same year as the BBC move to salford.
Salchester City Council is on the way........
I can see on the horizon another review of local government in this area within the next 10 years or so and I think that there will be a new expanded Manchester Council which will take in areas like Swinton and other towns in the area that are in other boroughs.
They're not thinking about it; they're doing it. They've just recruited a new senior management team in IT at Manchester, who will be merging the services with Salford. Manchester is also taking over procurement, personnel (stupidly called "employee lifestyle" now) and some of the library services. Highways and transport is being taken over by AGMA soon.
The Greater Manchester Council was disbanded in the 1980s, and is now returning under the guise of AGMA. The worrying thing is that it'll give Leese and Bernstein more power
So will the City of Manchester and City of Salford stadiums then be co-owned by the merged entity?
People here whinging that Salford lacks a city centre yet in Australian cities like Perth, metropolitan councils are often called City of....despite being only a handful of suburbs!!! People here really need to keep up.
Its inevitable that in the next few years Manchester and Salford councils will merge, or rather parts of Salford will come under Manchester and other areas under Bolton/Wigan. This merger has been raised many times over the last 100+ years, but in todays climate it makes more sense to do this. These are the first steps.
I agree there should be fewer local authorities in Greater Manchester. As someone said, there are just seven in the West Midlands. Manchester itself is far too small. Bury is too. All the same, I have a soft spot for Salford, despite its faults! My family arrived as poor immigrants 100 years ago. Surely the creation of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is moving us in this direction?
How about going back to those parochial councils Or How about giving power to communities and call it the big society? That way those who sit on the committees will simply look after themselves.......!!!!