Council changes threaten 450 jobs

Many Bristol City Council staff may work from home in future

A reorganisation could lead to the loss of up to 450 jobs at Bristol City Council, a spokesman has confirmed.

The authority wants to save £17m annually and has decided 35 of its 52 office buildings are to be sold off.

The council also hopes that as many as three in every 10 of its remaining 16,000 employees will work from home.

Councillor John Bees, in charge of transformation, said he believed the actual redundancy figure would be 100.

He said: "By 2012 the council will look, feel and operate very differently.

"This will be the most radical change to the way the council is organised and operates in over a decade and will make an enormous difference to the lives of everyone in our city.

"Tinkering with the organisation or doing nothing are simply not options.

"We cannot deliver the kind of services that the people of Bristol expect and operate effectively as one council without a real shake up of the way we work and I believe we are now ready to make that change."