GO AHEAD GIVEN TO SHARE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
| Published: 6th March 2008 13:55 |
Suffolk Coastal's Full Council have agreed to an initiative that will see its Chief Executive hold the same role at Waveney District Council.
Both Councils agreed last night that Stephen Baker will from April divide his time equally between them in a move that Suffolk Coastal believe will place an increased emphasis on joint working and sharing of experience, resources and knowledge.
"This important and innovative agreement is just the latest example of our commitment to joint working which has helped us in Suffolk Coastal deliver better services and even better value for money to our Council Taxpayers," said Cllr Ray Herring, Leader of Suffolk Coastal.
"Stephen has been at the heart of the changes that have helped us deliver £7 million of efficiencies in the last few years, seen our services being regularly rated among the top 25 per cent in the country, and this district and council score the highest public satisfaction ratings in Suffolk.
"This is another sign that we are continuing to modernise the way this Council works, and I would reassure our residents that this change will not jeopardise our performance as we have in place a Councillor and Officer structure that is used to managing change and delivering success. We aim to fully exploit for the good of our Council Taxpayers the opportunities of working closer with Waveney to deliver even more efficiencies," added Cllr Herring.
It has been emphasised that each Council will remain independent and that this is not an official merger but a pooling of resources, talents and knowledge between two areas with many common features.
Both Suffolk councils face coastal protection challenges, share transport links, have tourism and ports as key economic drivers, and have large rural and environmentally-important areas.
"We both recognise that there is much in common between us, and there is much more that we can do jointly that can benefit all our communities. Working closer together should lead to more efficiencies and service improvements."
"Sharing a Chief Executive is a radical move, but I am confident it will work as this Council has had the recent experience of sharing the management of services such as building control and audit with other councils committed to partnership," added Cllr Herring.
