Despite being more than 85 miles apart the five councils, Hart and Havant in Hampshire, Mendip in Somerset and South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse in Oxfordshire, have joined together to consolidate their purchasing power.

The councils have awarded a contract to Capita to deliver a range of corporate services including HR, IT and finance; and to Vinci to provide facilities management and property services. 

As well as delivering enormous financial savings, at a time when funding streams for local councils are being tightened considerably, the new contracts are expected to improve services for residents.

The councils will be benefitting from the two companies’ extensive experience across the public and private sectors to continually review and improve services across the organisations.

Councillor Mike Fairhurst, Cabinet Leader for Marketing and development at Havant Borough Council, said:

"This is another significant step forward by Havant Council, which, together with the recently announced joint venture with Norse, will go a very long way to ensuring our financial sustainability without the need for cutting our services or raising council tax.

“By working with our like-minded partners we have managed to get far greater efficiencies than we would have achieved on our own, and I am sure other district councils will be following in our footsteps pretty soon.

“It shows again that Conservative run councils are taking the lead in protecting local taxpayers."