Issues

Open competition for council leaders

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - Monday 23rd April 2012 -  Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

Alex Atwood Private and voluntary sector leaders are being encouraged to apply for the new council Chief Executive posts after Environment Minister Alex Attwood announced that the jobs will be appointed through open competition.

The Minister concluded that this was the “fairest and most effective” approach as the posts will be “fundamentally different” to those held by the current chief executives.

“Not only will all councils cover a geographically larger area and serve a bigger population base, they will also deliver significant new functions and operate within a new governance framework,” Attwood stated.

“The job specification should clearly reflect this growth, the task of building a new organisation and reflect the transformation challenges inherent in the job.  It is key that a full range of candidates is available. This will require robust selection and opening the opportunity to as wide a pool as possible.”

Each new council area has a statutory transition committee, which is due to appoint a Chief Executive-designate by the end of 2013. 

Elections to the new councils are to be held on 22 May 2014 (alongside the European Parliament election) and the existing chief executives will stand down on 31 March 2015 when the current councils are wound up.

Show More
Back to top button