Wandsworth chief executive Paul Martin is set to become the first joint-chief of two south west London boroughs, as part of plans to set up shared staffing arrangements with neighbouring Richmond.

The news comes as Wandsworth LBC and Richmond-upon-Thames LBC have announced an agreement to operate a single staffing structure from March 2017 which could deliver estimated savings of up to £10m.

Merging senior management structures and reducing duplication at top officer level will be the initial focus of the integration project, but further longer-term savings are anticipated from reducing supplier overheads through the joint commissioning of services.