CUTTING management positions and creating new multi-functional teams will make Bournemouth’s planning, transport and regulatory services departments more efficient.

That’s the claim of officers who have carried out a comprehensive review of the departments, to see how they can be “transformed.”

They say altering the structure of these departments will save money and enable the service to respond and adapt to changing demands.

The plans will see the environmental health and consumer services unit removed, with the loss of one service director and associated support costs.

There will also be a reduction in the number of managers within the service by combining roles and functions at a senior managerial level.

Proposed changes to the team structure and number of team members in the service unit could see the number of team managers reduced by about a third and staff merged into larger multi-disciplinary teams.

Together, the transformation project is expected to save more than half a million pounds a year.

A separate review of the council’s environment and regeneration services department has also been carried out and aims to find ongoing savings of £1.5m a year.

These savings will be found by enhanced waste separation, more efficient use of plant and assets, rationalising staff and reviewing charges.

Cllr Anne Filer, cabinet member for corporate efficiency, said: “Because our government grant is being cut we are having to save millions.

“But we want the services that we give our residents and visitors to be even better than they are now.

“We don’t want anybody to suffer through these cuts.

“That is why we are consulting staff and asking their ideas as to how we can streamline town hall departments and processes.

“That enables us to cut bureaucracy and concentrate on what residents actually care about – providing services.”