LESS than six months after being turned down for Government funding, West Somerset Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council have been given £750,000 towards their pioneering initiative to join management and share services.

The authorities have received the funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government, which in January had praised both councils for their "exemplary" progress towards linking up.

The award has been hailed as an unequivocal vote of confidence in joint working by West Somerset Council leader Cllr Tim Taylor and his Taunton Deane counterpart, Cllr John Williams.

In a joint statement they said: "This is tremendous news and shows that we were right in having the courage and determination to turn a proposal into reality in the space of a year with the added benefit of substantial savings for both councils.

"The fact that the Government is awarding us such a significant sum at a time of austerity is proof that what we are doing is right for the communities that we serve.

"It makes absolute sense that we work with one team of senior management and officers while remaining democratically independent."

Last November, the Government rejected a bid by the two authorities for money to cover the set-up costs of the new-look management and service delivery.

At the time, the leaders of the councils said they were disappointed but said the tie-up was not dependent on a successful bid.

However, the progress of the joint working initiative would not move forward quite as quickly as if the bid had been successful.

Now, all that has changed with the DCLG saying the councils had only just missed out in the last round of grant allocations.

In announcing the funding the DCLG said: "Your authority is one of those that narrowly missed out on receiving funds last year.

"We propose to offer you £750,000 to take forward the plans in your bid.

"Your bid demonstrated your commitment to delivering transformational changes to the way that you work through innovation.

"One of the key criteria for this scheme was the ability of the proposal to be a strong exemplar for other councils to follow."

The money will help fund key investments that will enable the two authorities to work in a joined up, streamlined and modern way.

The two councils took the decision to work together at the end of last year after members approved a business case which set out the savings and other advantages – such as greater resilience - that joining forces would bring.

They are now working on plans to set up wider partnerships with other local authorities for services such as legal and building control.

Under the tie-up, West Somerset and Taunton Deane share a chief executive and management.

Work on bringing other staff and services together is currently under way.

A spokesman for the authorities said the next major step after bringing services together would be to continue to make savings while ensuring communities received the best possible service.

Speaking to the Free Press, Cllr Taylor said: "For West Somerset Council this is a significant stage on our journey to provide the residents of West Somerset with a district council which has both the finances, expertise, capability and resilience to provide and protect the services our residents value and the ambition to work with partners to shape our West Somerset places and communities.

"That West Somerset Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council are now seen by Government as 'exemplars' in our methods of partnership, is a huge advance from where West Somerset Council was several years ago, when it was viewed as somehow failing or muddling along inefficiently and ineffectively.

"We have grasped that nettle but the journey is by no means over.

"Although we face some difficult future challenges, we are now in a position to cope with these and are well on the way of providing the residents of West Somerset, with a district council of which they can be proud."

Representatives from the DCLG visited the councils at the beginning of the year to check on the progress of the joint working initiative and to provide feedback on the previous unsuccessful funding bid.

At the time, Cllr Taylor said the officers had confirmed the bid had ticked all the right boxes but that far more applications had been received than had been expected.

But he said the DCLG representatives had been impressed by the progress made by the West Somerset/Taunton Deane project.

"Despite their initial concerns that the business case appeared to local pace, having visited us and spoken with the project team they could understand why we had taken the approach we had and said progress made and the approach taken was exemplary.

"They also said it was the right decision to push ahead despite not receiving funding and through the distractions encountered immediately prior to the business case being presented for a decision at both councils," Cllr Taylor said in January.

The "distractions" included an 11th-hour attempt by Sedgemoor District Council to change the proposal by suggesting a three-way tie-up between West Somerset, Taunton Deane and Sedgemoor.

However, Sedgemoor failed to secure the political mandate requested by the other two authorities ahead of the partnership decision meeting.