WEST Devon Borough Council is forming a new partnership with Teignbridge District Council which will see a single building control service being provided across both districts.

Currently, both authorities provide separate services to residents within their respective districts, but with increasing pressure to remain competitive and deliver efficient, quality services the two councils will work together to provide a cost-saving, better service.

Roger Collins, head of building services, said the new partnership would see them share their professional staff, but site inspections would still be carried out by building inspectors from the relevant authority.

The aim was to enable applications to be submitted via the internet, with centralised plan-checking being carried out digitially and fed through to the appropriate council.

Cllr Paul Ridgers, chair of West Devon Borough Council?s environment and health committee, said everyone benefitted from ?such an excellent partnership?.

?Local government prides itself on taking the initiative to find new ways of working, and combining our resources in this manner is an ideal example,? he said.

The new partnership is expected to ?go live? from April 1, with the combined database for both services being one of the first goals.