How unlike the home life of our dear Babergh!

Unlike Babergh, some councils in Suffolk do not appear to have adjusted to the fact that Local Government re-organisation is likely to mean the end of Council life as we know it!

For example, there has been quite a furore about the salary that Suffolk County Council is going to pay its new chief executive. According to the EADT it seems that headhunters advised the County that they would have to pay £200,000 or so to attract an appropriate person. The story is reminiscent of my days in the City of London when headhunters were always keen to recommend the most expensive candidate for any job. Of course, they take six months or so salary as a fee, so it is in their interest to hike up the numbers as far as possible. I have an old schoolfriend who works at the headhunters engaged by Suffolk County Council, but suspect that unfortunately she won’t let me in on any secrets with regard to the latest appointment!

Another feature of the affair that is reminiscent of City Life is the speed at which senior officers seem to move about. I gather that the average period in post for a Chief Executive of a Council at present is only a very few years. What seems to be developing is the sort of merry-go round of talent which did a great deal to bid up salaries in the good old days in the City. The difference was of course that the money that was being dished out to high flyers reduced the dividends of the shareholders, rather than hitting the pockets of Council Tax payers.

To be fair, a factor that has to be taken into account is the uncertainty surrounding the future of Local Government in Suffolk. It must be more difficult to attract people to come and work in an organisation that may not be in existence in two years time! However, one does wonder if, in the light of this, there wasn’t an alternative solution in the short term.

Another recent surprise was the decision of another Suffolk District Council, also threatened with extinction, to spend £3m on refurbishing its offices. Goodness me!!! How wonderful it would be if Babergh had this amount to splash out at the present time. We are furiously trying to raise money from various capital sales so that we can get the Hadleigh Leisure Facilities scheme under way before the Council is no longer able to give the project the support it deserves.

On the other hand, Babergh is also cutting back on projects where spending money now would be pointless. The area of IT comes to mind, but there are others. Additionally officers who leave are not always being replaced where work can temporarily be done by others, and this seems right while we wait to see what the Boundary Committee recommends later in the year.

(The illustration is of Freia picking the Golden Apples, which seemed appropriate somehow)