UNIONS have warned a "new era of industrial relations" with Brighton and Hove City Council has dawned after chief executive Geoff Raw announced his intention to push ahead with a management shake-up.

The GMB and UNISON have warned they were free “to take whatever action we see fit” after accusing Mr Raw of failing to take on board unions' concerns.

The unions are unhappy about the creation of a new “six figure salary” neighbourhood, community and housing director post and warned that the restructure could lead to pay rises for top-level management.

But Mr Raw said he could not delay the restructure anymore, describing the current situation of interim appointments and vacant posts as “unsustainable”.

He told Thursday’s special policy and resources committee he had acted upon some feedback following consultation on the plan but did not believe trade unions’ request to halt the proposal was in the best interests of the city.

The reform is proposed to create a “flatter” structure with no more than six tiers of management.

The chief executive told the council his reforms would deliver more savings than the £120,000 additional savings agreed at the 11th hour at February's annual budget.

The management reshuffle will see the cutting of one £45,000 support officer post for the chief executive, one £118,000-a-year executive director role and three assistant director roles from January next year.

But GMB branch secretary Mark Turner questioned the level of savings would be achieved warning salaries for the new posts could rise by as much as £10,000-a-year pay.

Mr Raw also promised further phases of management cuts as the council aims to save almost £2 million by 2020 but unions said it was not clear how that level of funding could be achieved and warned some lower-management reforms had been halted because of concerns about disruption to council services.

Mr Turner said: "Now that Brighton and Hove City Council has torn up agreements with the trade union, it means we are free to take whatever action we see fit.

“It starts the new era of industrial relations.

“We cannot rule out that we might not cooperate with this new structure.

“We are not against the management plan as a whole but what we are against is that we don’t feel the creation of a new department is warranted."