Cannock and Stafford councils in talks on joining forces to tackle issues like fly-tipping
Two Staffordshire councils could join forces to tackle issues such as fly-tipping in a bid to save cash.
Cannock Chase District Council and Stafford Borough Council are in talks to bring environmental services, which covers issues such as licensing, fly-tipping, food safety, and contaminated land, under one umbrella.
Plans to merge responsibility for planning decisions and information governance between the two authorities could also be considered.
Cannock’s cabinet will meet tomorrow to agree that a report is put together on how the two authorities could best work together to run the services.
A report to members says the move would ‘significantly increase the opportunity for savings to be delivered’. No details are given about how the savings would be achieved, or how the savings could impact on jobs.
Judith Aupers, head of governance and corporate services for Cannock Chase, said: “Cabinet is being asked to agree to the commissioning of an independent options appraisal jointly with Stafford Borough Council, to consider all options for the future delivery of environmental services.
“Sharing the service is just one of the options to be considered.
“We will need to await the outcome of this review before any recommendations are put to the cabinet regarding the future delivery of environmental service.
“A business case will need to be established as to the potential savings that could be delivered and other potential benefits such as resilience of the service.”
A decision to merge pest and dog control services, with the borough council to take the lead, will be signed off at the meeting.
The two councils have been sharing some services since 2011, including human resources and information technology. So far, this has led to each authority making savings of £558,000 per year.
Borough council leader, Councillor Patrick Farrington, said: “It is worthy of noting that shared services in relation to the two councils have been ongoing for a number of years. Officers have been working very hard to understand services that can be shared without affecting the level of service to the general public.
“This has lead to significant savings for us without actually affecting services.”
