Thursday 21st May, 2015

A new joint working partnership agreement between Gloucester City Council and Gloucestershire County Council was signed last week which will involve a shared programme to jointly provide back office services.

Both councils have a long standing working relationship, and have already pursued a number of joint initiatives. Public consultations revealed a desire for as many services as possible to be retained and the agreement helps both authorities to deliver savings and still provide important services.

Cllr 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."

Cllr 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."

Jon McGinty, currently deputy chief executive of Aylesbury Vale District Council, will take up the joint post appointment of managing director for the city council and commissioning director for the county council in July.