The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is centralising its property teams as part of a bid to save £1.4m a year on back office costs, which will result in four property staff losing their jobs.

The plan includes establishing a “property services management office”, which would bring together property and building teams from across the borough, with the intention of saving £200,000 a year.

The council says this plan, which is due to be considered by the Richmond council cabinet on Friday, would introduce consistency and avoid duplication.

It has also outlined plans to centralise its procurement team with the aim of improving contract management and tendering processes.

The shake up is also expected to result in 33 job losses across finance, property, and procurement, including four property jobs and 11 procurement jobs.

Geoffrey Samuel, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and resources, said the council was already standing to lose £906,000 in government funding.

“We are expecting further cuts in the Local Government Finance settlement later this year,” he said.

“These savings need to be found somewhere and we are going through every area of Council expenditure with a fine tooth comb.

“I have always said that to make the savings required we would have to make a number of difficult decisions, and it is right that changes in support functions should be amongst the first to be implemented.”

Jonathan Riley planning partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons said: “Richmond’s move is likely to be replicated nationwide. However, the more radical move that we expect to see is for shared property and planning teams between authorities or within city regions – likely to be accelerated as part of the local enterprise partnerships roll-out.”

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