A PRIVATE company will today take control of four services at Bournemouth council in a 10-year deal worth nearly £150 million.

Business consultancy firm Mouchel will take responsibility for the council’s revenues, benefits, ICT, and facilities management services in a bid to shave nearly six per cent a year from the running costs.

Bournemouth council leader Cllr Peter Charon said the deal would realise significant savings and oblige Mouchel to provide services in the top 25 per cent of the country.

“It is the combination of service improvement, cost reduction, council-wide transformation, a flexible contract that lets us maintain control, and added benefit to the wider economy that make this a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” he said.

Plans to outsource council services were formed over two years ago and the appointment of Mouchel has followed several heated debates.

Opposition councillors have voiced concerns about Mouchel, whose share price fell by 30 per cent in October, and which has made 2,000 redundancies since last January.

The Association for Public Services Excellence has said the deal could cost more than £150m and warned that frontline services could be cut to deliver more expensive back office services.

Unions have criticised the council for not inviting council managers to tender for the contract, and raised concerns over the transparency of the redundancy programme.

Bournemouth council says 88 redundancies will be made over the next two years, with 44 staff due redeployed to other roles, a further 18 posts left vacant, and remaining posts shed through natural wastage.

Mouchel is contractually obliged to create 350 jobs in Bournemouth, but hopes to create as many as 650 posts.