PLANS for a shared senior management team for Malvern Hills and Wychavon district councils were approved by the two authorities last week.

At a special meeting of Malvern Hills District Council held last Thursday, members voted 27-1, with no abstentions, to approve the proposals. Two days earlier, Wychavon had also made a similar decision.

The proposals will see the currently-vacant head of housing and planning role at Wychavon to be shared and filled by the head of housing, planning and economy at MHDC, Gary Williams and Wychavon’s head of community services, Phil Merrick, will take responsibility for both councils’ economic policies. The changes will be implemented during the first week of April.

The proposals were put forward by Jack Hegarty, who was appointed joint chief executive of the two councils last year. He said that the proposals will save at least £35,000 per council, increase resilience and expertise across both councils and will improve the way they deliver. It also meant no redundancies

The decision by Malvern Hills councillors was welcomed by council leader David Hughes, who said: "This is the right decision for this council because now what we're asking is for Mr Hegarty to look at the options for further joint sharing, and it's really setting the scene for how we're going to be working jointly with Wychavon.

"It will have significant benefits for the people of Malvern HIlls, and the people of Wychavon, as well. The main area to flag up is that the role of our head of planning Gary Williams, who is already very involved with strategic planning, specifically the South Worcestershire Development Plan, which means he has been working closely with Wychavon and with Worcester City as well. Phil Merrick will have a similar role when it comes to economic development."

Cllr Hughes said he was very pleased that the proposal had been endorsed by so many of his fellow councillors.

He said: "The council is already feeling the benefits of closer working arrangements with Wychavon, and councillor who had previously opposed the idea of joint working have told me that they have come around to the idea."