Director of place named at Cheshire East

Leicester City Council’s strategic director for city development and neighbourhoods, Frank Jordan, will join Cheshire East Council in September to take up the newly created post of executive director of place.

Jordan will have responsibility for planning, regeneration, highways and countryside. He has previously held senior jobs at Newcastle City Council and at Northumberland County Council and has been at Leicester since 2012.

In addition to place-making work, Jordan has, according to Cheshire East, “developed a number of change management programmes, which have resulted in innovative new ways of working…A review of Leicester’s technical services will result in £10m of savings over three years, as well as improving the quality of delivery for service users.”

The new role of Executive Director of Place was created by Cheshire East Council as part of a wide restructuring of the authority. The responsibilities were previously part of Caroline Simpson’s brief as executive director of economic growth and prosperity before she left for Stockport in April. Andrew Round has been filling in as interim director of place in the meantime.

Cheshire East’s council services now fall into three new directorates: people, place and corporate services.

Mike Suarez, chief executive, said: “Cheshire East has made these changes in order to reduce management costs and to make things easier for residents. By 2020, the authority aims to be in a position to be completely self-funded and already £5m of management savings have been made.

“I am delighted that Frank is joining the dynamic and innovative team we have at Cheshire East – and I’m sure he will be a real asset and receive a warm welcome from colleagues.”

Cheshire East said it is the third largest unitary authority in the North West and the 13th largest in the country but claims to have one of the smallest costs and number of top-tier managers. The council’s workforce reduced from 3,880 in 2012 to 2,770 full-time equivalents in the current financial year, a reduction of 27.7%.

Frank Jordan said: “I have very much enjoyed my time at Leicester and I am now really looking forward to coming to Cheshire East.

“I’ve been very impressed with the council’s ambition and with the innovative approach which it takes. I am pleased to be joining Cheshire East at this time as I believe that the council’s new structure will set a template for others to follow in delivering quality services in a cost-efficient manner.”

He went on: “In particular, I can’t wait to get my teeth into major pieces of work, such as HS2 coming to Crewe and the regeneration of Crewe and Macclesfield.

“On a personal level, I am looking forward to working in a beautiful part of the country where there always seems to be something interesting and exciting happening.”