The Shadow Dorset Council has said the new unitary authority will save more than £1million each year by removing nine senior officer posts.

On Thursday, March 21 the Appointments and Dismissals Committee of the Shadow Dorset Council will meet to discuss redundancy proposals for nine senior officers from the county, district and borough councils.

This is because these councils will be replaced by the new unitary Dorset Council from April 1.

The Local Government Reorganisation will replace six councils with one unitary council. This will mean that 23 senior officer posts will be reduced to just seven posts in the new Dorset Council.

A statement from the Shadow Dorset Council said: "By removing duplication and reducing management overheads, Dorset Council will achieve significant cost reductions, enabling it to function on a more sustainable financial basis in future.

"This, in turn, supports the priority goal of this local government reorganisation: to protect frontline services for residents.

"If approved by the Appointments and Dismissals Committee, the cost of the collective contractual redundancy payments will be £756,291.

"In addition, the pension ‘strain’ payment in line with scheme rules will be £1,086,506. This is the contribution Dorset Council would make to the pension fund.

"The total annual saving for the council from removing these nine posts (including national insurance and employer contributions to pensions) will be £1,072,096 and this would be a repeating saving each year. This means the proposed redundancies would pay for themselves in 20 months."