South Holland District Council leader backs deal with Boston Borough Council and East Lindsey District Council to avoid cuts

Sharing council bosses is seen as the best way of avoiding cuts to services in South Holland – and avoiding a £650k spend on hiring new officers.

South Holland District Council wants to enter into a ‘strategic partnership’ with Boston Borough Council and East Lindsey District Council which would see it share a senior management team.

The deal replaces a previous arrangement with Breckland District Council – and South Holland leader Gary Porter says it’s essential to cope with an era of tightened resources.

He estimates the costs of ‘going alone’ would be “£650,000 at a conservative estimate” – or 11% of council tax – with a need to fill a series of posts that are currently vacant post-Breckland if these are not shared with others.

Coun Porter says councils who do try to forge their own path face cutting public services. He said: “Whether you like it or not there’s going to be less national taxpayers’ money for local services.

“We have already seen that for the last 10years and Covid will probably accelerate that picture, so you have got to drive out even more efficiency from what we have allocated.”

He added: “I think we need to do whatever to protect the front line because that’s the point of us being here.”

Coun Porter said there should be no visible difference to taxpayers – and no need for job cuts, adding: “All the staff that came with us from Breckland knew that we were looking at a shared project in Lincolnshire. They didn’t know the final destination but the bus was always going to shared land.”

The initial idea would be to share a team of about 30 senior managers – and then conduct a review to explore further opportunities to share services.

Boston and East Lindsey are seen as a natural fit because South Holland already shares back office services with the authorities.

It also fits much of the old Holland County Council area – and would be big enough to justify its own authority should local government reform spell the end for smaller councils in the future.

Coun Porter said: “It’s not our intention to press the button on it – but if somebody else does press the button, we have got something that’s over the minimum threshold.”

The move will need to be approved by Boston and East Lindsey councillors before coming to South Holland councillors on Thursday.