The chief executive of a council which faced capping earlier this year has been named as the new Thames Gateway boss. Local government secretary, Ruth Kelly, announced the appointment of Judith Armitt, currently chief executive at Medway Council, highlighting her track record of ‘leadership and delivering high-profile projects’. She will be responsible for driving delivery of the Thames Gateway programme and the implementation of the strategic framework. Medway escaped capping in July, but had a budget imposed by the Government for 2006/07. Meanwhile, following the retirement of James Molloy in December after months of speculation over rifts at the top of Bassetlaw DC, the recruitment process for a new chief executive is under way. The post is being advertised internally and forms part of a wider management restructure to create three executive directors posts and seven heads of service. The council said it did not expect any ‘fallout’ after only advertising the job internally.‘This has been through our scrutiny people who don’t seem overly concerned,’ a spokesman said. SOLACE Enterprises is overseeing the restructure.
