A restructure of departments at Ipswich BC has seen 27 senior management posts replaced with 10 heads of service posts. The ‘streamlining' move has been made to save the council between £500-£600,000 a year, and deliver a more joined-up approach for residents. A council spokesman said the decision was not related to the council's unitary bid and the restructure would protect frontline services by cutting management costs. He added that the restructure would lead to appropriate departmental mergers with, for example, planning, strategic planning, transport and engineering being amalgamated. ‘This top-level shake-up can produce more connectivity between services and greater accountability,' said council deputy leader, John Carnell. ‘It will also make significant savings and has been factored in as part of our budget process.' Nine of the new posts have already been filled internally and one remains to be advertised. Cllr Carnell said some of the long-serving managers had taken the option of early retirement or taken redundancy.
