Pennine Lancashire suspends chief exec search

Regenerate Pennine Lancashire said it has suspended its recruitment for a chief executive until the uncertainty surrounding Government funding becomes clearer.

The economic development company had started a recruitment process only last month for the replacement of Max Steinberg, who left to take up a new role as chief executive of Liverpool Vision, replacing Jim Gill.

Instead, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire will be appointing someone to fill the position on an interim basis from its own management team until the end of March next year.

That person is likely to be either Steve Hoyle, director of economic development at Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, or Jackie Mason, director of housing market renewal. However, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire told Place it could not confirm who it will be.

Regenerate Pennine Lancashire receives funding from the Government's Housing Market Renewal and Local Enterprise Growth Initiative funds, which is supplemented by contributions from local authorities, regional agencies and other public funding.

Last Monday the North West Development Agency announced that Pennine Lancashire, an NWDA partnership organisation along with another five urban regeneration and economic development companies, will not receive further operational or capacity funding from March 2011 due the NWDA having to trim its budget by £52m following calls from the Government.

Regenerate Pennine Lancashire is likely to have its housing market renewal budget cut by the Government and said clarification on funding will become a lot clearer following the spending review in October.

Therefore, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire added that its decision to call off its search for a new chief executive was a sensible one.

The company advertised the position in the Sunday Times, amongst other national titles, and gave anyone interested a deadline of 17 July this year to send in their application.

The salary for the role was being advertised as being up to £125,000 a year but Regenerate Pennine Lancashire said it does not know how much the interim chief executive will be earning because it will be a different role to the full time one and that the organisation is going through changes as a result of the uncertainty surrounding Government spending.

Regenerate Pennine Lancashire is based in The Globe Centre in Accrington.