Tayside councils envision closer future
The heads of Tayside's three councils are meeting regularly to find ways they can work together to cut costs — just months after Dundee's deputy lord provost said the authorities should be reunified.
Tayside Contracts' cross-region coverage is being held up as an example for the future.
- By Stefan Morkis
- Published in the Courier : 08.06.10
- Published online : 08.06.10 @ 08.13pm
Independent councillor Ian Borthwick said in February that it was "inevitable" crippling financial pressures would force the councils to merge into a single regional authority, 14 years after Tayside Regional Council was dismantled.
Although Dundee City Council administration leader Ken Guild said he would be open to talks about possible reunification, politicians in Angus and Perth and Kinross were less receptive to the idea.
The three councils already work together in the Tayside Procurement Consortium and Tayside Contracts, but it has now emerged that high-level talks involving the chief executives of each local authority have taken place to examine other ways they can work together.
They hope this will allow them to save money and stave off the worst effects of the looming budget cuts.
Full reunification may not be on the agenda but Dundee City Council chief executive David Dorward told the audit and risk sub-committee on Monday that a closer working relationship has become imperative.
Asked by Fraser Macpherson about the need for shared services, Mr Dorward said a new organisation called the Tayside Collaborative Group has been set up to explore ways they can work together.
He said, "The three chief executives have met and have set up groups with that to look at areas where there is a possibility of shared services being developed. These are being actively worked on."
Report after recess
Mr Dorward said a report would be given to councillors after the summer recess on developing more shared services.
However, he added that Dundee City Council would examine ways to work with other public sector bodies to save money, too, including NHS Tayside and Fife Council.
"It is not just in Tayside — we must up the pace in terms of looking at this initiative," he said.
"There have been discussions over a long period of time and now we have to turn that into action. Tayside Contracts is a good example and we should look at extending the services it provides.
"The speed and depth of the financial crisis we are coming into will mean that shared services will need to move at a similar pace — it is one of the options as we have to address the difficulties we all face."
Alasdair Craik, a senior audit manager with Audit Scotland, told the committee that the economic crisis has meant the need for councils to work together has "become more critical than before."
"Local authorities are going to experience considerable budget pressures and will face considerably greater demand for their resources," he said.
"All councils have to sit down and look at how they can best provide services. Sometimes people already have links beyond their boundaries and Tayside Contracts is a perfect example of that.
"But other initiatives will have to be considered. On the west coast they are looking at sharing financial services, while Fife, Lothian and Edinburgh are looking at pension provision."
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