THE?Forest Council is looking at "ground-breaking"?proposals which would see it no longer directly employing people.

The council already works with three other councils in the GO Partnership but is looking at widening the scope of "joint working."

The four councils, Cots-wold District Council, Cheltenham Borough Council, West Oxfordshire District Council and the Forest Council issued a joint statement last week, outlining the 'radical' proposals, which are encapsulated in a 26 page report:'A 2020 Vision For Joint Working.'

In the report they propose: "Four independent Councils determining their own policies, priorities and decisions supported by a small number of expert advisors who commission and monitor services, either from the private and voluntary sectors or from local authority-owned service delivery companies.

"If approved, the four authorities would establish a jointly-owned local authority company to provide the services required by each individual council.

"The move is expected to save in excess of £55m over 10 years, and it comes in response to continued financial pressures that local authorities face."

But within the '2020 Vision' report it said: "Although there are a number of innovative employment models within local government, a model which has no council retained/employed staff will be ground breaking."

In the statement Cllr Lynden Stowe, leader of Cotswold District Council said: "The proposition set out in this report represents perhaps the most radical joint working approach in local government today."

Forest Council leader Patrick Molyneux added: "In simple terms amalgamating the support services of four councils would see a reduction in operating costs and an increase in efficiencies.

"By reducing the administration and running costs of the councils we can spend a bigger proportion of our budget on delivering the frontline services our communities need, while keeping the democratic decision making of local councillors intact."

However, the idea of the four local authorities becoming a single 'unitary' body without any retained employees has rung alarm bells in the major trade unions who represent many staff from those councils.

John Drake, Gloucestershire's regional organiser for Unison, the second largest trades union in the UK, told the Review: "We are extremely concerned at these proposals – both for our members who may be affected, and also for the service users in the areas covered by these four councils.

"There are serious questions that would need to be answered about democratic accountability at the wholesale outsourcing of services to what is effectively a private company.

"It also seems wrong that councillors in distant Oxfordshire will be making decisions that affect people here in Gloucestershire. And, by the same token, our local councillors would be doing the same for people who live in the Cotswolds and elsewhere."

He added: "However, we are still formulating our full response to the proposals, but I can say that the union would be entirely opposed to the type of reorganisation that is being planned."