Three top strategic directors at Oxford City Council look set to apply for jobs elsewhere after failing to win new posts in a management shake-up.

Mark Luntley, Michael Lawrence and Sharon Cosgrove, strategic directors for finance, housing and leisure respectively, have been reinterviewed for new executive posts, but were not successful. The interviews on Thurs- day formed part of a dramatic shake-up of the authority's management structure, in which 18 business units are to be cut in a bid to make the Town Hall less "top-heavy".

Council leader John Goddard said: "We are sad that existing strategic directors have not achieved their ambition to become executive directors. We thank them for the work that they have done in their present roles."

City councillors from across the political divide - including deputy leader David Rundle, Bob Price and Ed Turner - were part of the interview assessment panel. There is a slim chance that they could apply for alternative posts within the council.

One councillor, who asked not be named, said: "They will all get decent pay-offs and be able to apply for jobs with other authorities."

A spokesman for the council said the local authority was changing the roles of the council's directors from "generalist corporate managers to executive directors with specialist knowledge and experience".

In October, leaders at the cash-strapped council asked the public how to find a bumper £5.2m worth of savings. The Liberal Democrat administration outlined £3.7m of potential savings, but said it still had a further £1.5m to find.

One of the most significant savings - £1.5m a year - could be achieved with the axeing of 70 posts through a recruitment freeze.