THE FIRST tri-council partnership in the country could be set to get the green light from one of the authorities involved.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council will hear the business case for adding North Dorset District Council to the shared services partnership it has with West Dorset.

A report going before Management Committee next week recommends approval for the merger - the first of its kind in the country.

It says the partnership must have a joint chief executive in place by March next year if it is to get Government.

As reported in the Echo, the project has already been awarded £600,000 from the Government’s ‘Transformation Challenge Award’.

The councils have now bid for a further £1.5m.

But concerns have been raised such as redundancies and putting more pressure on already ‘overstretched’ staff.

When the merger came up for discussion at district council last month, director of resources Jason Vaughan said there would be a ‘reorganisation of management structure’.

Cllr Mike Byatt, chairman of the Management Committee, said redundancies are ‘not the focus’ of the new partnership and any made would be in senior management.

He said the three main points of exploration are the amount of money that can be saved through ‘better working methods’ as a trio, better use of assets and gaining and securing investment.

Cllr Byatt added: “Staffing levels are not the main thrust of what it will be about.

“And this is just coming to Management Committee to discuss - it will require all three authorities to support it.

“This will be the beginning of exploring what the implications and issues are. It is right and proper that our Policy and Scrutiny Committee raise any issues.”

He also said local government ‘has to change’ because of cuts and savings that need to be made.

Each of the three authorities involved has already has its budget cut by up to 40 percent and more are predicted, the report says.

It predicts that adding North Dorset to the Shared Services Partnership could save more than £4.6m by 2020.