A COUNCIL chief executive plans to quit ahead of plans to merge her role with the boss of another local authority.

Cherwell District Council’s Mary Harply told councillors she is waiting for confirmation of a chief executive role at Hounslow Council in London.

It comes as the council looks at sharing the role and those of other senior managers with Towcester-based South Northamptonshire District Council.

Mrs Harply refused to comment until the job is backed by Hounslow’s full council at a meeting on Tuesday.

Earlier this week a union warned scores of jobs could be lost if the two councils forge ahead with proposals to share senior staff.

The councils say they will jointly save more than £1m – £686,000 a year in Cherwell and £360,000 in South Northants – by sharing 15 key staff instead of employing 31.

At the moment each local authority has its own chief executive, heads of service and directors.

A report says a further 62 posts have also been identified for merger – 40 at Cherwell and 22 at South Northants, which could save a further £769,000.

Cherwell says it cannot rule out further redundancies, but any decision will take place after the Government’s spending review later this month.

Union Unison is concerned the move to shared management could be the tip of the iceberg for job losses and may lead to cuts in services.

Regional representative Steve Waite said: “The problem is the proposals seem quite simple on the surface that they will save on senior managers.

“But once that tier of management has been reduced, they will look at the next tier and so on because that’s the logical next step. I think staff are feeling fairly low.

“In terms of the impact, there is also the potential impact on funding from central Government.

“There is great apprehension that it will mean cuts in services and loss of jobs.”

Cherwell’s executive is due to look at the business case on Monday and if approved the proposals will go before both full councils on November 3.

If the scheme is approved, one chief executive could be running both councils by December, followed by directors in January and senior managers by March.

James Macnamara, Cherwell’s executive member for resources and communications and vice chairman of the shared management working group, said: “It is impossible at this stage to rule out further redundancies but sharing management will certainly go a long way towards protecting frontline jobs and services.

“We must now wait and see what the Government’s comprehensive spending review announcement brings on 20 October.”

The move is expected to cost the councils up to £1.7m in redundancy and recruitment expenses – of which Cherwell would pick up 60 per cent and South Northants 40 per cent.

Costs for the joint management team would be split 50/50 between the councils.

Both councils say the move would not be a merger, but would ease some of the pressure from expected cuts in the annual Government grant.