DUDLEY Council is to bring on board a new commercial chief to help save millions of pounds from the way it buys goods and services.

The authority is aiming to transform its procurement processes to achieve five per cent savings which would equate to £15 million across all council expenditure.

As part of the savings drive - the council is looking to bring in a new chief officer to help unlock potential savings of millions of pounds.

The council’s cabinet is will be asked to approve the move at a meeting next Wednesday (March 21).

If approved, whoever takes on the new £90,000 role will be responsible for ensuring the council maximises its value for money when buying in goods and services as well as bringing money into the authority to make it more self sufficient.

The appointment comes on the back of a recommendation from the Local Government Association which said the authority needed to review the way it deals with contracts and commissioning.

It was also flagged up in a recent internal review at the council.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said: “This is a very exciting and important move for us as we look to make this authority more commercially savvy and efficient than ever before.

"The person coming in will specifically be tasked with making significant savings. We are around 90 per cent self sufficient, which means we rely less on government subsidy, but this appointment is about closing that gap even further.

“The people who benefit from that in the long run are the taxpayers of this borough and that has to be welcome news.”