A radical overhaul of a council’s top-level management structure has been revealed.

Brighton and Hove City Council chief executive John Barradell has unveiled his vision for the way he wants the authority to be run in the future.

He is planning to appoint four senior officers on salaries of up to £130,000 instead of the current six “superheads”.

They will answer directly to Mr Barradell to create an “overview” group of officers.

The CEO believes the new structure will enable the council to better deal with an increasingly strained budget, which will see the authority making at least £45 million of cuts over the next three years.

Mr Barradell first outlined his plans for change in a report in January entitled ‘A council the city deserves’.

Initial plans were revealed in The Argus last month and council staff were informed in greater detail of the changes in a document circulated yesterday (Wednesday).

The four senior officers will be called the “strategic leadership board”.

Beneath them would be seven proposed new commissioning roles covering areas such as transport, planning, housing and regeneration.

They will be supported by new delivery units in 11 key areas which the council wants to operate in the ‘most innovative and resourceful way’.

The four senior officers will operate under the titles People (which will oversee family relations), Place (which includes housing and urban environment), Communities (which covers culture and business) and Resources (which will plan to achieve outcomes).

It is proposed that a finance unit is added to the structure and will see the appointment of a director of finance.

The council will look internally and externally to fill the posts as it seeks the “best people for the job”.

It stated the increase in salaries will be made up by the deletion of the other two posts and confirmed it received advice from the Local Government Employers about the increase in salaries.

Mr Barradell said: “Working in this way puts the needs of our residents’ right at the very heart of what we are doing.

“Essentially it means tipping on its head the old way of doing things – which was to see what resources were available – then to use them in the best way possible to serve the public.

“The new way is to assess what the public needs and ensuring resources can be made available to meet that need, wherever they exist.”

He added: “Together the new four Strategic Directors and the Chief Executive will be responsible for all the strategic outcomes and for ensuring that the priorities of council members and partners are delivered across the city.”

Alex Knutsen, of the Brighton and Hove branch of Unison, labelled the new salaries as “quite excessive”.

He said the plans were still lacking detail for the majority of council employees.

The plans will be discussed by the local authority’s cabinet next Thursday.

If approved, all council employees will be involved in a consultation with a final decision expected to be made by September at the earliest.