WEST Devon Borough and South Hams District councils, who have saved taxpayers almost £6-million through sharing services, are planning to save even more by adopting a radical new management structure.

In the first step towards an innovative transformation of the two councils, which is expected to save a further £4.87-million per year from 2015, the authorities will temporarily not be replacing their retiring chief executive who leaves next March.

Instead, the councils have agreed to pilot an executive director model of working which is already in use in some single authorities nationally but not currently used by councils in a shared services arrangement such as South Hams and West Devon.

The councils have appointed their two current corporate directors to jointly lead the authorities for an interim period and the move will save approximately £80,000 over the next year.

Current corporate directors Alan Robinson and Tracy Winser have been appointed as joint executive directors, with Alan taking on the head of paid service and community role, while Tracy is responsible for the councils' transformation programme and will lead on resources for the two authorities.

The temporary move means the councils will save money by not recruiting a new chief executive and also provide continuity and stability while the organisations undergo their major transformation.

This latest initiative provides an innovative stepping stone towards transformation, taking out a tier of management for the interim, by replacing the traditional chief executive and corporate director roles.

Cllr Philip Sanders, leader of West Devon Borough Council, said: 'Although we are sad that our current chief executive is retiring this does give us an opportunity to test the model of our planned reconfiguration of services.

'Working with South Hams we will be the first to use this model for a fully shared service.

'This is only an interim change but it will allow us to fully explore this new way of working whilst saving the taxpayers' money.'

Cllr John Tucker, leader of South Hams District Council, said: 'I stress that this is a temporary measure and will give us time to understand how this model will work for our councils.

'I look forward to working with Alan and Tracy during this transition period.'