A director at Dudley Council is to be axed under plans that will reduce the number of staff who command annual salaries of more than £100,000, it was revealed today.

Further redundancies are also expected when two departments merge.

The finance and law department will combine with property and human resources, leading to the number of directors shrinking from six to five, including chief executive John Polychronakis.

The number of assistant directors is also set to be cut.

Deputy council leader Councillor Les Jones revealed the cost-cutting measure today, saying: “The aim is that there will be significant restructuring with the specific intention of improving efficiency and reducing costs.”

Philip Tart, interim director of the soon to be defunct legal directorate, will oversee the reorganisation.

Councillor Jones said he could not speculate about job losses before Mr Tart has drawn up his plans.

“This does reduce the number of directors by one which is a significant saving in its own right. But until we actually do this we don’t know how it will affect jobs.”

Four assistant directors are employed by each of the directorates which will be merged.