Birmingham City Council is set lose 79 full-time posts as it merges its planning and regeneration departments into a single team.

Its plan will mean cutting the team by one third, and setting up smaller planning and regeneration teams based in different areas across the city. It means all staff in both team will have to reapply for their jobs.

The council says the move will help it to implement the Big City Plan and provide a single point of contact for developers and the public.

The news coincides with an announcement today from three London borough councils that they will merge to form a “super-council”. Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea will give in February give further detail on how they will share the same corporate services deparment.

Waheed Nazir, director of regeneration at Birmingham, said: “By merging these services together I believe we can deliver a more focused, efficient and multi-skilled service, removing duplication and delivering better value for money.

“In their new roles we hope all planning and regeneration staff will be more versatile, multi-skilled and develop a more flexible approach, which will benefit both them and the services they are delivering.”

On Wednesday, chancellor George Osborne unveiled the Comprehensive Spending Review, which will lead to a 33% cut in the budget of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The jobs will be cut from areas linked to central government funding streams which are set to come to an end, such as Working Neighbourhoods Fund and New Deal for Communities, as well as back office roles currently duplicated across the teams.

Mr Nazir added that talks with Trades Unions and staff on the proposals are continuing and the review had been carefully thought through to minimise job losses and maximise the council’s focus on priorities for the city.

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