“THIS is not a merger.” Those are the words of council leaders at Christchurch as members unanimously gave the green light to significant business proposals to work more closely with East Dorset District Council.

Following concerns from the public and other elected representatives, the leader of Christchurch Borough Council, Cllr Alan Griffiths moved yet again to reassure local people.

He said: “We are not merging councils, we are sharing services. This is going to work because we have similar people to our colleagues at East Dorset.

“We have no choice but to go down this route. We need to reduce costs, need to defend and improve the services we provide as well as reducing risk.

“It will be a huge benefit to us having the back-up of other people and enable us to continue serving the people of this borough.”

He added: “We will be as open and transparent as we can be. In a way we are lucky. Many others don’t have this option and are facing some much tougher choices.

“This is a good way forward. Neither we nor East Dorset can make these essential savings on our own.”

But although the decision was passed unanimously, some councillors were reluctant to see the measures passed.

Independent councillor Colin Bungey said: “I do not like the idea of being forced into something.

“We are one of the best councils in England across the board and it worries me that being forced into this we will lose that accolade.

“We need to take the public with us on this. Somehow this authority has got to do a very good PR job.

“Maybe there should be a referendum to ask the people who elected us what they think, although perhaps we wouldn’t like the result.”

Under the proposals the two councils will share a chief executive, as well as combining their officer structures, with all arrangements in place by January 2011.