OXFORD City Council is pushing ahead with its biggest ever reorganisation in an attempt to save more than £1m a year.

Council chiefs have drawn up detailed plans to merge the council’s two largest operations, City Homes and City Works – and believe the major shake-up can be complete within 18 months.

City Homes is responsible for maintaining Oxford’s 8,000 council homes and City Works carries out vital operations such as road maintenance, rubbish collections and looking after city car parks.

Under the ambitious plan, that would lead to some job losses, they would be merged and the council would vacate one of its two major depot sites at Horspath Road and Cowley Marsh.

But council tenants’ representatives have opposed the merger and say it will badly affect services.

The two departments employ a total of 500 staff, about 40 per cent of the council’s entire workforce, and combined have an annual budget of £59m per year.

Council leader Bob Price, who was briefed on progress last week, said the plan was moving forward well and a report would be considered by the council’s executive board later this month.

He said: “It’s really important for us. If we don’t have this we would be looking at even bigger cuts to our core expenditure.”

He said the merger would save £600,000 – about one per cent of the departments’ budget – through a combination of moving to one depot, job cuts and more efficient working.

Combined with a separate project to downsize council offices, the moves will save the authority £1m a year as it prepares for deep cuts in Government funding.

No decision had been taken on which depot site would be closed, but Mr Price confirmed housing development was a possibility for the Cowley Marsh site if the council chose to close it after 40 years.

It is understood the Hors-path Road site, opened in 1976, would only be suitable for office or industrial use if it were sold for redevelopment.

Staff numbers would be cut as part of the merger but no figures have yet been set.

Council bosses hope compulsory redundancies will not be needed, with job cuts covered by staff leaving or retiring.

But Malcolm Everton, an elected tenant representative, said the merger was a huge concern for tenants and would set council house services back 20 years.

He claimed the merger would affect elderly and vulnerable residents Mr Everton, who is a tenant at Bradlands, Old Marston, said: “Officers in the Town Hall with no experience of housing problems will be given management roles they might not be up to.

“They should keep City Homes as it is. Why mess with something that is successful?”

The council is also moving forward with major office mergers in the city centre to save £500,000 per year.

It is vacating offices at Blue Boar Street and Ramsey House before selling off the sites for an estimated £5m.