MILLIONS of pounds may be saved by awarding contracts for shared delivery of library and leisure services in Ealing.

A meeting this Tuesday will recommend awarding contracts to private companies in a joint venture between Ealing, Harrow and Brent.

Ealing Council was required to reduce its 2012 budget by £85m for 2014/15 and identified the merging of services with neighbouring boroughs as a way of helping.

Early ideas include shared leisure and library card schemes, with aligned pricing and discounts, shared management and shared back-office teams.

The tri-borough agreement could see the shared management of 10 leisure centres on a 10-year contract, worth an estimated £50,000-£60,000.

Contracts for managing up to 25 libraries are available for five-years including an optional five-year extension, reportedly worth £90,000-£100,000 for 10 years.

Sports and Leisure Management Ltd (SLM) and John Laing plc are reported to be front runners to secure deals for leisure and library services respectively.

SLM currently work with 20 local authorities and are among 14 potential leisure service providers.
John Laing are one of 10 companies listed as possible library service providers as they already run libraries and other services in Hounslow.