COUNCILLORS at two local authorities have agreed to merge management teams in a bid to save more than a £1m a year.

From next year, Cherwell District Council and Towcester-based South Northamptonshire Council will share 15 key staff instead of employing a total of 31 people.

Cherwell expects to save £686,000 a year, and South Northants £360,000.

At the moment, each local authority has its own chief executive, heads of service and directors, which currently cost jointly £2,647,000.

The proposed new shared structure includes one chief executive, three directors, eight heads of service, and three senior managers.

A new chief executive could be in place by February next year, with directors by August and heads of service in September.

Public sector union Unison said it would monitor the merger closely after fears the move could lead to more job losses.

Phil Aris, branch chairman, said: “We will hope to play an active part in any further departmental mergers as the cascading effect of joint working between the two councils drops down to employee level.”

Cherwell’s leader Barry Wood said: “We are confident that the decision to forge ahead with plans to form a shared management team is the correct one and one that will enable us to begin to address the financial situation we currently face.

“At the same time we also want to preserve as many of the valued services as possible that our residents and businesses have come to rely on.”

Jointly, the councils employ 751 people and wages is the biggest outlay, totalling £26.1m.

Separately, the two councils also agreed to merge building services departments, which oversee construction to ensure it complies with building regulations, to save at least £120,000 a year.

Fifteen people are employed across both authorities, but Cherwell said it was too early to confirm how many jobs would be lost.