PLANS to forge closer working links between West Somerset Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council will continue unabated despite news this week that the Government will not help cover any of the set up costs.

In a joint statement, the authorities said they were "disappointed" to be turned down for funding from the Government's Transformation Challenge Award scheme.

But both stressed work on the tie-up was well under way before the Government unveiled the funding pot and said the plans were not dependent on a successful bid.

Cllr Tim Taylor, leader of West Somerset Council, said the money had never been factored in to the business case for the sharing of services.

If the business case - which is due to be published today (Friday) - is approved, the proposals will move forward but Cllr Taylor conceded it might not be as quickly as if the bid had been successful.

He said: "It stacks up without the Transformation Challenge Award money and our joint project with Taunton Deane Borough Council is still very much on track.

"We are positive about this partnership.

"The business case proposals will result in substantial savings for both authorities, as well as providing greater resilience and expertise and, most importantly, the proposal will help West Somerset Council maintain the frontline services that our residents value."

He said joint working would enable West Somerset to remain as an independent council "elected by the people of West Somerset for West Somerset".

He said that while the award funding would have been helpful, the business case for the sharing of officers and services was never dependent on it.

Separately, in a joint statement with Taunton Deane leader Cllr John Williams, Cllr Taylor said: "Naturally we are disappointed our bid has not succeeded but we are committed to moving forward with proposals for joint management and shared services.

"Our plans have never been dependent on the success of our bid because as our business case demonstrates it makes absolute sense to share management and services, so why wouldn't we do it to deliver better value for money?

"Had we received funding it would have been the 'icing on the cake' that would have helped deliver efficiency savings in a much shorter time span."

The leaders said they had already taken an important step towards joint working as the current Taunton Deane chief executive Penny James would be taking on a new role as shared chief executive of both authorities later this month.

In all, 18 successful bids were made by councils and fire authorities for a share of the £7 million Government funding pot to help them implement more shared working and service arrangements.

Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis said the money would help councils "overhaul the way they do business" by integrating local health and care services, sharing finance and human resource functions and creating partnerships for better asset management.

Mr Lewis said the Transformation Challenge Award grants were aimed at "starting the the ball rolling" towards shared services nationwide.