Council merger "not on the cards"

Councillors are holding a joint executive meeting tonight (Thursday) to consider a report from the councils' shared chief executive, Ian Lowrie.

The report outlines the importance of partnership working between the two authorities '” Worthing Borough Council and Adur District Council '” to achieve efficiency savings as required by a forthcoming government White Paper.

Four options are given in the report, one being for both councils to look at increasing areas of joint working. The two councils already jointly provide services in refuse collection, recycling and building control.

Worthing council leader, Keith Mercer, said: "It is entirely sensible for the two councils to consider such a step but I must emphasise that we are not looking at a merger. People have been telling us they want services to improve but without a hike in council tax. Joint working is an excellent way to achieve this. Doing the same work with less resources is the way organisations throughout the world use to improve efficiency."

Adur leader Neil Parkin said: "Both councils have already disregarded the idea of a merger because of the lead-in time and the costs involved. We are interested in saving money for the council tax payers, not wasting it."

But leader of the opposition group in Worthing, Liberal Democrat Bob Smytherman, said he feared the discussions could lead to a merger of the two councils by the back door if the joint working option was agreed.

He said: "The report states that as more services become jointly run, a separate local authority company might be created."