Three London councils are to set a landmark for shared services by merging all their services to create a “super-council”.

Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster hope that the move will save them between £50m - £100m a year. Each council would keep its own identity but would share services (such as ICT provision) under the scheme.

Working groups will look at merging three areas – environmental services, family services and corporate services. The groups will feedback next February with their feedback a more detailed plan will be put out for public consultation.

The council’s leaders are hoping that the scheme will soon become the norm for local authorities who are looking to keep costs down.

A statement by Colin Barrow (Westminster), Stephen Greenhalgh (Hammersmith and Fulham) and Sir Merrick Cockell (Kensington and Chelsea) states that sharing service “is a way to reduce duplication and drive out needless cost".

The statement said: "To achieve this in the age of austerity we need to seriously examine new ways of working including sharing service provision with other local authorities to deliver more for less. That is why we have met and agreed to progress with plans to share every council service between our three councils.”