Three London borough councils have announced plans to make themselves less "localist" by merging most of their services.
Hammersmith & Fulham Borough Council, Kensington & Chelsea Borough Council and Westminster City Council have issued a joint statement on service mergers in the light of the spending review.
They intend to share every council service, although there are areas like core democratic services which may escape.
The move is plainly contrary to the spirit of "localism" but has been urged by communities secretary Eric Pickles.
"To achieve this in the age of austerity we need to seriously examine new ways of working including sharing service provision with other local authorities to deliver more for less," said the statement.
"That is why this week we have met and agreed to progress to plans to share every council service between our three councils. This may include merging services to reduce duplication and drive out needless cost. While we won't rule anything out at this stage, we expect to focus quite quickly on a few major areas where sharing and merging services is viable and good for the public. There are a number of areas, such as core democratic services where we are unlikely to merge provision. The early focus will be building on the initial work to merge our childrens' services departments which is already making solid progress, while also building the business case to share our adults' services departments. We will only go forward where there is a clear democratic, social and economic case to do so."
Working groups will now examine options for environmental services, family services and corporate services.
"Our plans may be the first of their kind, but sharing of services in this way can no longer be viewed as a radical concept," they said.
"It will soon become the norm for local authorities looking for innovative ways to keep costs down while delivering high quality front line services."
