A MERGER between two district councils, which hopes to save £500,000 in the first stage of the partnership, continues to move forward.

Last year Chiltern, Wycombe and South Bucks District Councils announced their intention to share senior management but Wycombe decided not to go ahead. (See link below).

Now Chiltern and South Bucks have taken a step closer to bring together their management teams under a single chief executive.

The joint committee of the two councils met formally for the first time on January 19.

Its role will be to oversee the development of shared service proposals, which are estimated to build up savings for the two councils of at least £500,000 by the end of the first two years of the project.

During the meeting the leaders of both councils signed an inter-authority agreement which set out how the two authorities will work together.

SBDC leader Adrian Busby said: "Sharing services makes a lot of sense for both councils and we are now on the road to achieving it.

“We know there will be challenges but we will manage these by working with councillors and staff over the next few months."

CDC leader Nick Rose added: "It is important that we remember whose money we are spending and that we get the best deal for our taxpayers. That is the reason we are going down this path."

The programme for specific services, which will be shared between the two councils, will start to be decided later this year, after the new senior management team has been arranged.

Although services will be brought together, the two councils will retain their independence as separate sovereign bodies.