Chief Executive Ian Stewart plans to slash Bradford Council's top management by a third, abolishing all its current directorates.

Three new assistant chief executives are set to be appointed, with 17 directors on a lower tier.

The radical plan was put to existing top management at a meeting in City Hall yesterday.

And it has now been officially confirmed that the Council's previous policy of no compulsory redundancies has been scrapped.

City Hall union Unison immediately announced it would fight the proposals and said some angry officers felt their jobs had been "engineered out of existence."

The post of Director of Education is axed at the height of the problem-riddled schools reorganisation. There will no longer be directors of social services, housing, regeneration and corporate services.

They will be replaced by three assistant chief executives for operations, policy and corporate support and scrutiny. Beneath them there will be 18 directors for different services. They include a new director for schools. He or she will not have the same level of powers of the previous director of education.

The Council will also get its first director of culture on a four-year fixed post. The director is set to head Bradford's bid to become European City of Culture.

New marketing director Owen Williams, who was appointed recently, will start work next month. A temporary director of programme change will also be appointed internally.

The reorganisation is set to cut management jobs from 33 to 23 and save the authority about £500,000 a year. But officers have been told the jobs will be advertised nationally and they must compete with outside applicants.

Mr Stewart said: "These changes will help us provide a better and more cost effective service in the local community, deliver the new vision for Bradford and enhance the overall vision of the district. The Council no longer has a no compulsory redundancy policy, but we will be looking at every way possible to ensure that we avoid compulsory redundancies."

He said the changes were being made to ensure the Council had the right management and structure in place to support the new cabinet-style political system.

"Most of the top management were surprised about how radical the change was. But the meeting was conducted in a positive way." He said he could not estimate the cost of the new structure. "We want at the end of the day to get the right people into the right jobs to take Bradford into the Millennium." He stressed the rest of the Council was not affected.

But Unison regional officer Alan Hughes said: "They appear to have designed the new structure in a way which makes sure the majority of posts disappear as they stand."

He said he believed about eight people would want to leave. "People believe they are being treated unfairly. We think this is divisive."

The Council's 90 members were today receiving copies of the proposals and Mr Stewart said there would be extensive consultation before any changes were implemented.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said: "I feel sure this exercise will lead to a new management structure which will ensure we will be in a position to deliver quality services to the people."

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