More job losses in council change

More jobs than originally estimated are likely to be lost when a new council system in Cornwall is introduced.

The unitary authority will take over Cornwall's district councils and the existing county council next April.

Originally it was estimated that about 250 council posts would go. But workers have been sent an email saying it would be more.

County Council leader David Whalley said the final number of redundancies was yet to be decided.

"We've got to make sure we phase these in over a period of time. Until that analysis has been done I can't give any firm figures," he said.

We don't want to lose effective members of staff at this stage Councillor Loveday Jenkin

"But what I can say is that we said we would have between a 250 and 300 reduction in jobs."

But Councillor Loveday Jenkin said the workers are there for a reason.

"We're talking about combining seven different IT systems together, seven different services for revenues and benefits," she said.

"It's going to be complex in the short term to combine those services and that means we don't want to lose effective members of staff at this stage."

Cornwall's move to unitary status was approved by Parliament in February.

It was named as one of five county and district councils set ups nationally which will be replaced by "flagship" all-purpose authorities.

The unitary authorities will be responsible for roads and education, as well as leisure, environmental health and housing.

Cornwall County Council said the status could eventually save taxpayers about £17m a year.