Gosport and Portsmouth councils vote to support proposal for shared staff

That is the message from a Tory councillor after plans that would see senior executives from Portsmouth take on work in Gosport move closer to being agreed.

Gosport councillor Peter Edgar supports the proposals which would see Gosport Borough Council save £344,195 a year.

He said: ‘I remember when we worked with Portsmouth on the millennium project.

‘It took both councils working together to see the Spinnaker Tower built.

‘It is a shame that since then we haven’t really worked together on anything.

‘These proposals are a good way to help us save money.

‘It is important that we can work with Portsmouth.’

On Wednesday, the council agreed to put forward the recommendation despite opposition from the Labour and Liberal Democrats.

Tory councillors and Ukip councillor Patrick Bergin voted to approve the recommendation.

Tory Councillor Mark Hook, the leader of Gosport, said: ‘The opposition voted against us trying to save £344,000.

‘They knew 12 months ago that we were faced with a deficit but they have made no plans to try and save money.

‘No suggestions were made at the meeting and to do nothing is not an option.

‘I think my group are very good at making extremely difficult decisions like this one.’

He added: ‘It is good that Portsmouth have agreed to our recommendation.’

As previously reported in The News, the recommendation would see senior staff from Portsmouth take over the chief executive, deputy chief executive, solicitor and treasurer roles.

In Gosport, the people in those positions will be made redundant costing the council £1.029m in pay-offs.

The proposal went before Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet yesterday and was approved.

It will now be considered by the city council’s employment committee next week.

If agreed by the committee, the shared management proposals could be in place by November.