Newcastle City Council has restructured its senior management team resulting in two director posts being axed including the director of resources role held by Tony Kirkham.
The council said that savings of £320,000 could be delivered by making the director of resources role redundant and not directly replacing the director of city futures following his retirement.
Chief executive Pam Smith said she wanted to “ensure we have a structure which is fit for purpose, cost effective and able to deliver for our residents”. By “redesigning” some roles, extra capacity would be provided in other areas.
I would like to thank Tony Kirkham for his service to the council, his major contribution to developing successive budgets during challenging times and his personal commitment to the organisation over the last eight years.
Significant savings
She added: “Given the financial position, I was also clear that the changes needed to make significant ongoing savings to the council’s medium-term financial plan, and they will make a contribution of £320,000 per annum.”
Kirkham had been due to depart for a similar role at Nottingham City Council, which is currently awaiting government intervention. However, it is understood that this move will not now go ahead and Nottingham’s current interim corporate director of finance and resources, Clive Heaphy, has had his contract extended.
“I would like to thank Tony Kirkham for his service to the council, his major contribution to developing successive budgets during challenging times and his personal commitment to the organisation over the last eight years,” Smith said.
New s151 appointed
The council said that Kirkham will leave the council at the end of this month. Mark Nicholson, currently assistant director of finance, has been confirmed as the chief finance officer from 1 August. He will be responsible for the leadership of all finance-related issues and will be the section 151 officer.
The other post taken out in the restructure – director of city futures – has been vacant since the retirement of Tom Warburton in March this year. In its place in the new structure is an assistant chief executive role.
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