Prospect of three authorities having joint chief exec and shared management moves closer

A ground-breaking proposal for three local authorities to have a joint chief executive and shared management team has moved a step closer after the plan was approved in principle at council meetings last week.

Under the scheme Great Yarmouth Borough Council will join with Breckland Council and South Holland District Council, which have been operating with a shared chief executive since August 2010 and shared senior managers since 2011.

There will now be a period of consultation with staff. Final proposals will go before the three councils on 24 May.

Terry Huggins, joint chief executive at Breckland and South Holland, has been appointed as joint chief executive with a view to implementing the proposals.

In a joint statement the Leaders of the three councils said: “Breckland and South Holland are two modern forward-thinking councils who have made a success of working in partnership. Great Yarmouth will join as an equal partner.

“This initiative will create a strong and resilient management team and provide financial savings which will help each council continue to protect frontline services. This streamlined management team will reflect the entrepreneurial spirit of our councils and represents an exciting opportunity.”

A report prepared for the council meetings outlined some key principles for the proposed arrangements.

It said the sharing of management between three authorities would rely upon on an open relationship based upon a common vision and trust.

“Effective working requires steering as circumstances change based upon core principles,” the report said. “It is not something that benefits from attempts to codify it in detail.”

The three councils’ relationship is therefore to be ‘cemented’ through agreement of a memorandum of understanding.

Other principles include:

• Costs of the shared management team will be shared equally between the three authorities;
• The staffing structure will be based on the three key functions of local authorities: place; commissioning; and governance;
• All members of the shared management team will work for all three authorities and none will retain any ‘special’ relationship with any of the three authorities;
• All members of the shared management team have already been assessed against a set of core competencies; and
• Working with a shared management team would require officers and members to be flexible in developing new ways of working. “Use of video conferencing and other communications methods will be used to avoid unnecessary travelling”.

The report stressed that each council will remain a distinct separate and accountable body, and there would be no merging of authorities.

Governance of the joint working arrangement will be by a joint executive, comprising three members from each authority. However, it will have no delegated powers and will be non decision making. “For strategic decisions outside of the executive powers of the Leader it makes recommendations to the three councils,” the report said.

Redundancy costs are assumed to be £240,000, plus £76,000 if Huggins is made redundant.

Great Yarmouth had previously considered an ‘integrated working model’ with South Norfolk but that plan was abandoned.