Second £125k director leaves Brighton and Hove City Council

3:40pm Wednesday 16th May 2012 in Business News

NEW JOB: Charlie Stewart NEW JOB: Charlie Stewart

Another £125,000-a-year town hall chief is to leave his post – but this one will be replaced.

Charlie Stewart was one of four strategic directors brought in by Brighton and Hove City Council 18 months ago to improve services and help the local authority make tens of millions of pounds of savings.

But the former RAF officer has announced he will leave the local authority to take up a new role as assistant chief executive at Trent City Council in Stoke.

It comes weeks after the local authority confirmed fellow strategic director David Murray, whose portfolio is communities, would be leaving the council with an unspecified pay-off.

Mr Stewart and Mr Murray were believed to be vying for one job at Brighton and Hove after councillors voted for management cuts that would lead to one of the directors being made redundant.

Yet despite facing unprecedented Government cuts, council chiefs said they would be recruiting to replace the strategic director for resources.

Mr Stewart said in a statement: “I am leaving to take up an exciting role, but will be sorry to say goodbye to the many friends I have made across the council and city.

“However I know my colleagues will work hard to ensure that our goals and aspirations for the city will continue.”

Mr Stewart, who has worked as a cost-cutting consultant for Capgemini, will not leave the post immediately and the council said a leaving date would be announced in the coming weeks.

A spokeswoman for the local authority added that recruitment for a replacement would begin soon.

It is not thought Mr Murray, who will remain at the council until September, will be considered for the role.

Finance Cabinet member Jason Kitcat said: “Charlie has made a big contribution to moving the council forward and delivering more efficient services and we wish him all the best in his new role.”

But Labour group leader Gill Mitchell said: “I’m surprised the council is recruiting.

“I understand the chief executive, John Barradell, was bringing forward his plans for an overall reorganisation of the senior management of the council so I would have expected to have seen that before announcing a search for a replacement.”

Mr Barradell was forced to reshuffle the senior management team and reduce it from four to three after councillors voted for more than £250,000 of savings to be found over the next two years.

Comments(14)

SGK2000 says...
4:13pm Wed 16 May 12

With so many well paid directors saving us so much money, how come most of us are still in such a state?

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Alan G Skinner says...
4:15pm Wed 16 May 12

I cannot begin to understand why he is being replaced. Surely the best and least brutal way to cut costs is a recruitment freeze and natural wastage i.e. not replacing those who leave / retire etc, hence no need for redundancy payments later! It’s always the same, to many Chiefs and not enough Indians and of course the Chiefs who control the budget are never going to shuffle themselves out of a job, so it’s the hard working front line staff who actually deliver who will suffer from the inevitable cuts!

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nuff said says...
4:50pm Wed 16 May 12

£125k per annum carpetbagger.

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Tailgaters Anonymous says...
5:12pm Wed 16 May 12

RAF, CapGemini, says it all! Followed by aircraft-carriers with the wrong specified/no planes, 360 degree towers, excessive parking charges
What a crazy world and we as the punters are left to contribute through our taxes, local and national!

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Cash Cow says...
6:49pm Wed 16 May 12

Can I have his job please I will work 50 hours a week, doing my very best I can for £20,000 per annum saving the tax payer £105,000.

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Reflect on your post says...
8:16pm Wed 16 May 12

Alan G Skinner wrote:
I cannot begin to understand why he is being replaced. Surely the best and least brutal way to cut costs is a recruitment freeze and natural wastage i.e. not replacing those who leave / retire etc, hence no need for redundancy payments later! It’s always the same, to many Chiefs and not enough Indians and of course the Chiefs who control the budget are never going to shuffle themselves out of a job, so it’s the hard working front line staff who actually deliver who will suffer from the inevitable cuts!
Perhaps with a bit more 'skin' in the game you will be able to make more relevant comments

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george smith says...
8:46pm Wed 16 May 12

Was he responsible charging more for carers than anywhere else in the country. Disgraceful when you think what we pay to have the mess cleared up after travels and of course what we pay for the sheep

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hogarth123 says...
8:52pm Wed 16 May 12

Trust the dope Kitkat to get involved.
Cant wait to see them slung out same as the Torys that caused havoc in Southampton by cutting council staff wages in a time when all around them everything has risen in price.

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leobrighton says...
10:49pm Wed 16 May 12

They obviously still don't care about how they spend our money. I wonder if there will be a lavish leaving party!

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Rearrangethedeckchairs says...
1:17pm Thu 17 May 12

Wonder what website they will set up to recruit. First time round-it was 'not Status Quo'; this time perhaps 'the (commissioning) Wombles' or
'the Ordinary Boys' or perhaps just 'Madness.' ?

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RobJarrett says...
3:19pm Thu 17 May 12

Just wait and see what happens before you all jump to conclusions. And the high care charges were brought in by Labour in January 2007. And we're not cutting wages. Any other misinformation you want corrected?

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B G Gruff says...
11:00pm Thu 17 May 12

Good point Aussie Mick, but I don't think any new people were recruiterd to be commissioners, they were people who were there already, so it just means a change of job title. However the whole commissioning thing seems to have been an expensive mistake

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boblat says...
6:46pm Fri 18 May 12

Jason Kitcat is just a ''BREAD ED''....Watch your backs folks, soon you will be fined for 'spitting' in the gutter??

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tinker000 says...
5:07pm Sun 20 May 12

GRAB IT AND RUN "GOOD MAN" better out of this dump of a town sorry *hitt"

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