PLANS which could see Taunton Deane and West Somerset councils merge have been presented to councillors.

The business case has been made public and will first be discussed by the town councils’ scrutiny committees next week.

As part of the savings made, cuts of 22 per cent will need to be made to employment costs. This will come from a combination of pay cuts and redundancies, the number of which cannot yet be confirmed. TDBC leader John Williams said the job losses will be “significant.”

He added: “This is the most important decision we are ever likely to make.

“In 2013 it became obvious that West Somerset was not sustainable. Because of the loss of rates to Hinkley B, they needed to find additional savings to become sustainable.

“It has been suggested that Taunton Deane is taking over a bankrupt council. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

“There will be job losses and staff are aware of that. It is going to be significant. We won’t be able to implement this without some redundancies.

“That alone will not be enough to balance the books.

“We can’t reduce staff unless we give the remaining staff the most up-to-date tools necessary.”

The business case proposes three possible options for the future of the councils.

The first option is to continue working together, but to remain separate, democratically indepedent authorities.

The second option is to merge a create a new combined council, meaning one set of councillors could serve the entire area.

The final option is for the two councils to become separated and to function as completely stand alone councils.

Anthony Trollope-Bellew, leader of the council for West Somerset, said: “We are disadvantaged in that we are large in size but small in population. That is our problem.

“The repayment of Hinkley B business rates of around £300,000, that was a hammer blow.

“There is no cross subsidy from Taunton. They are not subsidising West Somerset.

“We need further savings if we are going to not have to cut in deeply.”

If the third option is adopted, then West Somerset will need to make serious reforms in order to become sustainable. This could include working under a system where commissioners advise councillors as to whether expenses are possible under a new tighter budget.

If this is adopted, Cllr Trollope-Bellew said, then the “future is challenging it is fair to say for West Somerset.”

“The ambition is not only to save money but to provide better service to our residents,” he added.

The two leaders issued a joint statement with the business case.

It said: “It’s important to set out what has been achieved in the partnership since we took the decision to initiate joint management and shared services some three years ago.

“That process was delivered on schedule and we have made considerable savings as a result – £1.8million. This is money that can be spent on services our communities value.

“But we need to do more. There are huge pressures on local government budgets, not just locally but across the country.

“It really is about delivering savings while retaining services for our communities, albeit delivered differently in future.

“TDBC needs to do this to ensure it can continue to fund its growth ambition. WSC needs to do this to make it sustainable in future.”

The TDBC scrutiny committee will be held on July 11 and the WSC scrutiny meeting is being held on July 12.

These committees’ view will be put forward to full council meetings on July 26, where a final decision is expected to be made.