SOME of the top directors' posts at a district council could go as part of a shake-up in the way the authority is run.

A meeting of Wear Valley District Council will be held at the Civic Centre, in Crook, on Monday, to discuss the management restructuring.

It is part of a streamlining exercise that councils across the country are undertaking, to ditch the traditional committee system in favour of a cabinet- style system.

There are eight directors' posts at Wear Valley, but executive director Carol Hughes has been on sick leave since April, and it is more than a year since technical director Tom Imerson retired, following allegations of misuse of the Internet.

Councillor Olive Brown, leader of the council, said: "We are looking at streamlining the council, and that may include losing directors' posts."

Asked how it would affect the officers' posts, she said: "At this moment in time we can't say anything more. It could mean there are sideways moves. We felt we had to get the top directors looked at first."

Under the restructuring, part of the Local Government Act, councils can opt for three systems - an elected mayor and cabinet executive, a leader and cabinet leader, or an elected mayor and council manager.

Shire districts with a population of less than 85,000, such as Wear Valley, will also be allowed to introduce systems without a separate executive.

Wear Valley has yet to decided which to adopt, but Coun Brown assured people it would remain an open style of government.

"All of our meetings, whatever system we put in, will still be open to the public and the press. That has already been decided," she said.

"We have nothing to hide, and I don't believe in doing things behind closed doors.

"The committee system that will be put in will be entirely different. But we haven't decided which option to take yet.

"We have to consult with the public first and ask them if they agree.

"Hopefully we will have it up and running by May.