COUNCIL chiefs at Warrington have agreed in principle to what will effectively be a take-over of Trading Standards services in the neighbouring borough of Halton.
Although the new service is being described as a “joint service” for the two boroughs, it will be based in Warrington and staff currently employed by Halton will transfer to Warrington.
The new service could be operating by November 1 and, at first, will continue to operate as “Warrington Trading Standards” in Warrington and “Halton Trading Standards” in Widnes and Runcorn.
Officers from the two authorities agreed the amalgamation in principle last year and members of Warrington’s executive board are supporting the idea. It is understood Halton councillors also back the merger.
Arrangements have been made to merge the Halton Trading Standards database with Warrington’s to create a single database of consumer complaints and traders.
This will result in better monitoring of rogue traders who operate across the borough boundaries.
Officers have been authorised to finalise the contract terms and it is proposed that Halton should pay £405,000 a year as its share of the costs.
Tommy Wallace, head of public protection and community at Warrington, said: “Warrington and Halton’s Trading Standards services both have a good track record of performance and a good record of generating efficiencies and operating within available budgets.”
Nationally, it has been recognised that a population of about 300,000 is the optimum size for a Trading Standards service. Warrington has about 198,000 and Halton about 118,000 so there is an opportunity for economies of scale and further savings. But there is a national shortage of Trading Standards officers and both Warrington and Halton currently have unfilled posts so no compulsory redundancies are envisaged.
