Proposals by a north Durham council to save more than £300,000 through restructuring have been completed.

Derwentside District Council has shed 23 jobs, including those of two directors, in a streamlining of the authority from five main departments to three.

The final stages in the restructuring programme are being completed. All 23 men and women who are leaving their jobs took voluntary redundancy.

Director of public services Mike Clark said that the council would save about £300,000 in wages, and an unspecified amount of money in administration costs as a result of the restructuring.

The money would help the council maintain services in the coming financial year.

The council has also identified other ways it can make annual savings of nearly £200,000 ahead of next year's budget, including using staff in a number of different roles and using machinery - including information technology equipment - better.

Mr Clark has been involved in the restructuring programme during the past year and said interviews were still taking place for a number of new posts within the authority.

He said yesterday: "This has been a long, drawn-out exercise, and it is very good news that it is finally over.

"Hopefully, the public will see improvements in the way we deliver services when the restructuring programme is complete, by April 1."

Directors Barry Edge and Malcolm Davies, of the direct services organisation and environmental services respectively, took early retirement last year.

A number of painters who were directly employed by the authority were also advised to take voluntary redundancy, in October last year. The job losses have come from the top levels of management downwards.

Council leader Alex Watson said the council would now be in a position to declare next year's council tax rates, after consultations with Durham County Council.

He pencilled in Tuesday, February 27, as the date the council would be able to declare the new rate.

He said: "We aim not only to maintain, but to improve services, including street cleaning and boosting information technology commerce, and these savings will help us do that.