Top team for Norwich unitary council set to be picked

Sarah HallThe committee of councillors tasked with transforming Norwich into a unitary council will meet in public for the first time tonight and one of its inaugural tasks will be to begin recruitment of top officers for the new authority.Sarah Hall

The committee of councillors tasked with transforming Norwich into a unitary council will meet in public for the first time tonight and one of its inaugural tasks will be to begin recruitment of top officers for the new authority.

Known as the implementation executive, the new committee, made up of city and county councillors, will oversee the switch to a new council, which will see responsibilities for the likes of social services and education in the city transfer from the county council to the unitary authority.

But one of the first things the executive will need to do is find the senior council officers which will head up a new unitary council.

The implementation executive will agree the senior management team structure- made up of a chief executive, director of children's services, director of adult services, director of environment and regeneration and director of resources.

The committee is set to agree that external recruitment consultants be appointed to develop a recruitment package, with details of pay packets to be agreed by the implementation executive in April.

The implementation executive is set to agree that the posts go out for external recruitment, although current City Hall chief executive Laura McGillivray is likely to be a contender for chief executive of the new authority.

Steve Morphew, leader of the city council and chairman of the implementation executive, said: 'It has got to be the best person we can get to do it.

'I am confident we will attract good quality candidates, because Norwich has got itself a reputation on the national stage now, especially with the City of Culture bid. We are really going places.'