A SINGLE super-council to cover all of Wiltshire has been given Parliamentary approval.

The unitary authority will replace the existing Wiltshire County Council and the four district councils covering North Wiltshire, West Wiltshire, Kennet and Salisbury, and will be fully established by April 2009.

Elections for the new unitary council will take place next May.

Wiltshire was one of four counties to be granted Parliamentary approval yesterday.

The new-style unitary councils will also be set up in Cornwall, County Durham, Northumberland and Shropshire.

They are expected to improve services, and to bring the county together.

Once up and running the five new councils will in total save more than £75m a year for 2.1 million tax payers, it is claimed.

Local government minister John Healey said: "This is a pivotal moment for the formation of new flagship unitary authorities, where the delivery of better services, leadership, savings and greater involvement of local people takes centre stage.

"Now it is time to move on from past debates and discussions about restructuring.

"This is inevitably an unsettling time but I expect all authorities involved to lend their weight now to delivery through their locally led implementation executives, and the Government will do all it can to support that process.

"I made my commitment clear during the Parliamentary debates that staff will transfer to new authorities.

"I also intend to require all chief executive appointments to be subject to open competition, and I expect most other senior appointments to be open to re-recruitment and competition too."

County and district councillors are already working on ways of implementation of the new authorities, making arrangements for staff to transfer jobs.

Jane Scott, leader of Wiltshire County Council, said: "The change from five councils to one is a massive organisational change but it's one that is a means to an end.

"The change will help us to provide services at a much lower cost and of a much higher quality.

"It will enable us to improve our services to the customer making it easier to access, easier to understand and more co-ordinated for the user."