Pay fears as councils agree to cut senior ranks
HAVANT Borough Council's plans to share senior staff with neighbouring East Hampshire in a bid to save hundreds of thousands of pounds have been finally agreed by their civic counterparts.
Despite fears by Liberal Democrats in East Hampshire that local government decision making would become more remote with power being centralised "further south," the controversial proposals cleared their last two formal hurdles at the end of last month.
The radical plan to cut the number of senior managers from 15 to seven between both councils will save the two authorities an estimated 587,000.
But there has already been criticism of the new rates of pay for the "super managers" posts being created – the councils have shared chief executive Sandy Hopkins since the end of last year.
Havant gave the idea the green light at the end of May, but concerned East Hampshire councillors deferred making a decision until the plans had been properly examined by its own scrutiny panel and the full council, which met on June 30.
Despite opposition both groups came to the same conclusion as Havant's working party.
Havant's council leader Cllr Tony Briggs said: "With increasing pressure on funding for government at all levels, we are taking this important step to preserve local services and minimize the burden on the taxpayer."
East Hampshire leader David Parkinson said: "This agreement is a historic milestone and sets us firmly on the road to delivering quality services at even better value for money.
"I am pleased the two councils have agreed to this partnership."
There has been disquiet among Liberal Democrats in both council chambers. They are worried about both the speed of the reorganization asd well as the finer details.
Faith Ponsonby, who argued for a deferment while the matter was scrutinised by Havant's strategy and regeneration board back at the end of May, said: 'It should be referred before we agree in principle.
"It is a basic part of our governance and for such a big decision to be made, it must go through scrutiny especially as there are a number of risks.
"The business plan highlights how very different the two councils are."
She pointed out the disparity in the levels of deprivation in the two council areas which puts some wards of East Hampshire in the most prosperous in the country - compared with some wards in Leigh Park which are among the most deprived.
And plans to pay top officers increased salaries under the new plans have come under fire.
When Mrs Hopkins became responsible for both areas last October she was awarded a salary of 125,000 – up from the 100,000 she earned as head of Havant alone.
And under the new structure, two new executive directors will report to Mrs Hopkins and earn 91,000 – up from a top salary of 77,000 at East Hampshire and 84,903 at Havant.
But some members of East Hampshire's scrutiny committee were not happy.
Councillor Marjorie Harvey, who represents Rowlands Castle, said: "I think it's too much.
"In this day and age with people losing their jobs and the government telling us to reduce thoroughly, to actually go ahead and give people a rise is wrong.
"The directors will be getting a lot more."
Solace, the body which represents senior local authority chief executives, was commissioned to look at the pay scales of senior officers.
It reached the 91,000 figure by adding together the top salaries of executives at both councils, dividing them in half and adding 12.5 per cent to reflect the increased responsibility of the new role.
Tory leader Cllr Tony Briggs defended the figure.
He said: "The Government is saying partnership is the way forward because it creates greater efficiency across local authorities.
"If you consider the wage bill for both authorities at the present time we're saving almost half of that wage bill.
"The government wants us to save money. When you're asking people to apply for jobs and take on more responsibility than they have at the present time they're hardly going to be happy about having their wages reduced in some cases.
"We need to get on and make huge savings by working efficiently without cutting services."
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