A major shake-up of North Lincolnshire Council’s executive management structure will save the council hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The council plans to abolish its four most senior positions and to replace them with two new executive directors – people and transformation director (head of paid service), and a commercial director.

The plans, which will be discussed at a full council meeting on 29 September 2016, are projected to save the council around £850,000 over the next four years.

North Lincolnshire will also look at the next tier of management which currently comprises of 12 assistant directors.

‘The landscape of local government is changing as we become more commercially aware of the potential opportunities to generate income to pay for essential services,’ explained deputy leader Rob Waltham.

‘As we receive less money to pay for services, it is essential that we adopt an innovative and forward-thinking approach to delivering them by becoming more ‘business like’.’

‘We want to ensure that we continue to provide excellent value to our tax payers. To do that, we need to reposition the organisation so it is fit for the future, with a strong commercial focus,’ Cllr Waltham continued.

North Lincolnshire Council has recently taken other steps to become more ‘commercial’. Last July it announced it was setting up a trading company to generate income by selling its services on the open market.

It reported that new business generated through commercial development last year totalled more than £150,000 with a turnover of £7m.