A CASH-strapped council has announced it will streamline its senior management structure – but no jobs will be lost and no money will be saved.

Darlington Borough Council is facing budget cuts of £13.8m in the next three years and is proposing to reduce some services and remove others, particularly leisure facilities, to make ends meet.

The council has faced repeated calls from members of the public to reduce its management wage bill before making cuts to services.

However, a report on the future of the senior management structure at the authority has proposed to keep its 15 directors and assistant directors on their existing salaries of up to £115,000.

Instead, the officers will have their responsibilities ‘adjusted and refocused’ to concentrate on economic regeneration and reflect the changes to services as a result of budget cuts.

The authority has argued that Darlington already has fewer senior officers than most North-East councils and that to lose more could “further weaken leadership and management capacity at a critical and risky period”.

At the moment Darlington Borough Council has three directors – for place, people and resources - with 11 assistant directors beneath them who oversee the different areas of the council.

The proposed restructure would remove the role of director of place and replace it with a director of economic growth, who would be responsible for bringing inward investment and jobs to Darlington.

The other responsibilities of the director of place - housing, environmental services and leisure – would be moved under a renamed director for resources and neighbourhood services.

The 11 assistant directors would take on adjusted responsibilities to reflect the changes.

Council leader Bill Dixon said the planned departure of the current director of place, Richard Alty, who will leave in spring next year, was an opportunity to make the management structure more streamlined.

He said the new director of economic regeneration would “aggressively” target inward investment on the back of the proposed national biologics centre.

Asked if the council had considered reducing senior posts, he said: “If we cut posts we will not be in a position to attract inward investment. That would have a far more damaging impact on the local economy.

“We previously had seven directors and cut that to three and they haven’t had a pay rise in more than four years so to say we haven’t cut at that level is simply not true.”