DETAILS of a management shake-up designed to save council taxpayers £180,000 a year were unveiled today.Suffolk Coastal said its new structure would be more streamlined and modern, with three strategic directors and six heads of service plus a chief executive.

DETAILS of a management shake-up designed to save council taxpayers £180,000 a year were unveiled today.

Suffolk Coastal said its new structure would be more streamlined and modern, with three strategic directors and six heads of service plus a chief executive.

Council leaders have said the shake-up could include redundancies but no details of any posts going have yet been given.

"This is another important step in making Suffolk Coastal more efficient," said council leader Ray Herring.

"The changes are intended to save money while also giving employees at all levels of the council more responsibility to do their job better.

"The results of the new structure can instantly be measured by an annual saving of around £180,000 and I also expect it to have a significant positive impact on the way we provide our services in the future.

"We will now have strategic directors who will be able to focus on mapping a way through the financial minefield facing this council.

"We made over £1 million of savings in the last 12 months, but we have to repeat this feat in each of the coming two years – it is a tough challenge but this new structure will help us achieve it."

Under the interim chief executive James Gravenor, the three strategic directors are Jeremy Schofield, responsible for environment, economy, and community well-being, Peter Collicott, housing, fiscal and democratic, and strategic finance, and Tony Osmanski, rural issues, strategic support and customer services

Heads of service are:

n Hilary Slater, legal and member services, covering administration and purchasing, elections, legal services, land charges, rights of way, and licensing.

n Bob Chamberlain, development and building control, covering development control, building control and planning enforcement.

n Phil Gore, health, covering food and safety, pollution, health and safety, health promotion, and port health.

n Alan McFarlane, finance, covering accountancy, accounts, payroll, and cash control.

n Mike Eaton, housing and benefits, covering homelessness, housing advice and support, housing policy and enabling, housing benefits, and council tax.

There is a vacant post for community, policy and planning, covering planning, economic development and regeneration, tourism, sport, leisure, art and culture, rural issues and countryside management. This post will shortly be advertised.

A new chief executive is also being sought. A total of 38 applications have been received. Short-listing and interviews are due to take place towards the end of this month.