The team of senior managers which will work across Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council has now been inaugurated with the appointment of nine shared heads of service.
The shared posts were created following the appointment of Ian Gallin, as Joint Chief Executive, earlier this year and the agreement by both councils of the new management structure. The nine heads of service now join the two new shared Directors appointed at the end of September, Liz Watts and Alex Wilson, and Ian to form the Joint Leadership Team.
The new heads of service are:
- Head of economic development and growth: Andrea Mayley
- Head of housing: Simon Phelan
- Head of human resources and organisational development: Karen Points
- Head of legal and democratic services: Joy Bowes
- Head of leisure, culture and communities: Neil Anthony
- Head of planning and regulatory services: Nicola Baker
- Head of policy, strategy, communications and customers: Davina Howes
- Head of resources and performance: Rachael Mann
- Head of waste management and property services: Mark Walsh
Joint Chief Executive Ian Gallin, who created the new shared staff structure, said: "I am delighted to welcome the new Joint Leadership Team and look forward to working with them all. There are huge challenges ahead, not just financial but also the expectations that people rightly have of their council services. Our task is to support councillors to achieve the balance between what Council Tax payers want and what they can afford. Working across council boundaries in West Suffolk, cutting back on the overheads and sharing as much as we can is essential. There's a lot of work ahead but this is a hugely talented team."
Before the decision to share one senior management team, Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury between them employed four directors and 15 heads of service (excluding the head of service at the Anglia Revenues Partnership which delivers the revenues and benefits service). This has now reduced to two directors and nine heads of service (excluding ARP).
Ian added: "This is an extremely difficult time and we are committed to supporting those who were unsuccessful."
The councils expect to make in the region of £870,000 in savings from the management restructure (£170,000 of this has already been achieved by moving from two to one chief executive). The savings in senior management will make a significant contribution towards the £2.3 million annual budget savings the councils intend to make by 2014/15.
Joint leadership team and structure from 1 November 2012 (PDF 123Kb)
