City and county councils sign memorandum of understanding and look for joint director
Gloucester City Council and Gloucestershire County Council have signed a memorandum of understanding for joint working that will involve back office services and a shared senior director.
The councils have a long standing working relationship and have already pursued a number of joint initiatives, but have now reached an official agreement.
This follows public consultations that revealed a desire for as many services as possible to be retained, and will be aimed at reducing inefficiencies and costs.
Part of the agreement includes the appointment of a joint post of managing director for the city council and commissioning director for the county council. Jon McGinty, currently deputy chief executive of Aylesbury Vale District Council, will take up the post in July.
Councillor Paul James, leader of Gloucester City Council, said: "The public rightly expect the two councils to work closely together and that is what we are doing more and more. The purpose of the memorandum of understanding is to set out clearly the roles and responsibilities of both councils and allow us to develop our joint activities.
"I'm sure we can learn an awful lot from each other to help us to deliver quality services for all our residents."
Councillor Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: "This is an agreement that will help us to build on the work we have done in recent years to make our money go further and focus on the services that people told us were important."
Picture: Mark Hawthorne (left) and Paul James put their signatures to the agreement
