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The move to unitary status in Shropshire will see more than 180 jobs lost at a cost of £11.9M. At least 182 workers will take voluntary redundancy or early retirement across the existing councils on 1 April . There will also be ‘a handful of compulsory redundancies', yet to be announced. However, the move to becoming a unitary will mean £10.28m in savings a year through a reduction in bureaucracy and back-office staff. Brendon Hills, head of HR and development for Shropshire Council said: ‘The redundancies are necessary because creating one council means we will need fewer management and administrative staff to deliver services, although frontline service delivery will see growth.' Meanwhile, councils in Devon have been forced to wait for a decision on how unitary status will take shape in the county. A High Court judgement on East Devon DC's bid for a judicial review found the Boundary Committee for England had missed two key areas in making a decision. One was the need to consider any possible unitary configurations ‘in aggregate' to get an overall view of which was best, not just looking at each potential unitary authority as a free-standing body. And the second was to look at putting forward an alternative option rather than just one final proposal. The Government has given the Boundary Committee until 15 July to review the Devon situation and come back with a proposal. And moves to unitary status in Northumberland have stirred up dissent among the district councils. A letter from local government minister, John Healey, to the six district council leaders suggested some councils were ‘impeding the creation of the new unitary council'. Chief executive of Wansbeck DC, Bob Stephenson, responded: ‘Ever since the decision was taken in July 2007, this council at both member and officer level has been fully committed to ensuring the decision is implemented effectively. Quite frankly, I find the letter offensive.'

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WHITEHALL

More than 180 jobs to go at Shropshire

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