Chief Executive - SHDC & WDBC

Introduction

Richard Sheard is the shared Chief Executive of South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council.

The Chief Executive is the senior officer who leads and takes responsibility for the work of over 650 paid staff of the two Councils, who run the local authorities on a day-to-day basis. Post holders are selected on merit, against objective criteria, following public advertisement. They are appointed by the whole Council.

By law, senior Council staff are not allowed to participate in any party political activity and are expected to advise and assist all Members, irrespective of their political affiliation.

As Head of the Paid Service, the Chief Executive works closely with elected Members to deliver the following:

Leadership: working with elected Members to ensure strong and visible leadership and direction, encouraging and enabling managers to motivate and inspire their teams
Strategic Direction: ensuring all staff understand and adhere to the strategic aims of the organisation and follow the direction set by the elected Members
Policy Advice: acting as the principal policy adviser to the elected Members of the Council to lead the development of workable strategies which will deliver the political objectives set by the Members
Partnerships: leading and developing strong partnerships across the local community to achieve improved outcomes and better public services for local people
Operational Management: overseeing financial and performance management, risk management, people management, and change management within the Council
Effective working with key sectors of the area, particularly in relation to community and economic aspirations
Building and maintaining good relations with Town and Parish Councils and the Dartmoor National Park Authority
Working with Devon County Council to help deliver better integration and more efficient service delivery

The Chief Executive’s job description outlines the key responsibilities.

South Hams District Council

The Council is a large organisation. It is responsible for providing or commissioning about 100 separate services. The total turnover is in excess of £49,000,000. The capital programme is around £15,000,000.

The Council works hard to provide services for all who live, work and visit the district. We aim to deliver services that are of good quality to all our customers, but there may be times when services may not be up to the standard that customers can reasonably expect. So to help avoid or minimise this, the Council will look at the service and take on board comments from customers and look at how the service could be improved or enhanced.

A selection of the Council’s achievements in 2010/11:

Community Life

The Council has provided capital investment and worked with the community to attract Lottery and other funds amounting to a total investment of £3.5 million to significantly improve parks and open spaces across the whole District
Over 40 new and improved play area facilities have been provided to enhance the well-being, enjoyment, and development of young people and families
The Council and Tone have enabled the Active Villages programme to be started in Modbury, Shaugh Prior, and Salcombe. Continued funding through Active Devon will enable this to be rolled out to at least another 7 villages
The Walk & Talk programme is encouraging healthy lifestyle to a wide range of groups and people; with more voluntary walk leaders enabling a comprehensive walks programme to be run from our main town locations
The Council continues to work with Tone Leisure South Hams to effectively run its Leisure Centres and Healthy Lifestyle activities. The Friday night youth nights have enabled a reduction in anti-social behaviour to be reported by Police services in our towns

Economy

The Council froze its portion of the Council Tax
Our dedicated Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) caseworker has helped with £517,052 of customer debts and has generated an additional income of £191,425 for customers using the Benefits and Housing Advice Services
New employment land allocations (28ha) outlined in the LDF (including Langage and Sherford = 70ha)
Second year of the Visit South Devon partnership with Tourism Businesses and Teignbridge District Council - the website attracted 340,000 hits (up by 25%)
The District Council ensured the continuity of the Boat Storage on the car park at Batson by taking the delivery of the service in-house. This entailed the purchase of a slipway hoist to slip and launch the boats
An outline planning application approved at Baltic Wharf for a mixed use site

Environment

The Council has invested in primary park locations such as Woolwell and Ivybridge, and further work is being carried out at Kingsbridge, Totnes, and Dartmouth; where the local community has been involved in design and consultation
The AONB unit has run an extensive programme of community events, training courses, campaigns, and educational activities, involving over 16,000 people to mark the 50th anniversary year of the designation of the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1960
The Council has continued to promote tree planting in the Langage area with partners The Woodland Trust
The maintenance dredging of the Kingsbridge basin, the access to Lincombe Boatyard, and the Batson Channel to the Fish Quay and Public Slipway has been successfully completed in February. In total it is estimated that 20,000 m³ of silt was removed from the three locations. The method employed was the water injection technique. This method of dredging has proven to be both financially and environmentally sustainable

Housing

The five Site Allocations Development Plan Documents (DPDs) for Dartmouth, Ivybridge, Kingsbridge, Totnes, and the Rural Areas were adopted by the Council in February. These documents identify sites for housing (especially affordable homes), employment, and associated community facilities to 2016 and beyond
The Council have developed a new Local Allocations Policy to meet specific local housing needs, which ensures that 50% of allocations for rented homes on new developments will go to people with a local connection
Through the Council’s Tenant’s Incentive Scheme, people living in social rented housing which is now too large for their needs are being offered an incentive to move into smaller accommodation. In 2010/11 there have been 8 downsizing moves in South Hams, which have released larger family homes back into the social housing pool
The Council has made a financial contribution towards the creation of four move-on units and two mother & baby units in Ivybridge in partnership with Young Devon
19 new social rented, affordable homes will be completed at Culverdale phase 1 by the end of March 2011. At least 50% have been allocated to households with a local connection to Totnes. The properties have been built to Level 4 of the government’s “Code for Sustainable Homes” which aims to design homes which use less energy and produce fewer carbon dioxide emissions
The Council have agreed to capital expenditure of up to £600,000 to support the provision of 39 rented and shared ownership properties at the second phase of Culverdale, Totnes
In October the Council approved the Village Housing Initiative - the aim is to increase the supply of affordable housing in rural communities and reduce the reliance on public funding. There has been significant interest in the Village Housing Initiative and appreciation expressed from Parishes across the District plus Senior Council for Devon. Two sites are currently being actively progressed
The Council has implemented Devon Home Choice which is the new choice based lettings system of allocating social housing. It will not increase the number of homes available; a choice based system is designed to allow applicants more choice and involvement in selecting their future homes
A Housing Options Guide for People with Learning Difficulties has been produced outlining the range of Housing Options available across South Devon and how to access them. The guide is specifically for people with learning difficulties, and their carers and support workers
The employment of a CAB debt advisor within the Housing Advice Section has been recognised nationally as an area of good practice - as issued by Department of Communities and Local Government
Direct Lets operation was recommended as an example of good practice of working with Private Landlords by The Association of Housing Advice Services

West Devon Borough Council

The Council is one of the largest organisations in the Borough. It is responsible for providing or commissioning about 100 separate services. The total turnover is in excess of £22,000,000.

The Council works hard to provide services for all who live, work, and visit the borough. We aim to deliver services that are of good quality to all our customers, but there may be times when services may not be up to the standard that customers can reasonably expect. So to help avoid or minimise this, the Council will look at the service and take on board comments from customers and look at how the service could be improved or enhanced.

Listed here are some of our main achievements:

Through shared services delivering large savings in salary budget
For 2011/12 the Council is freezing its car park charges
Produced a joint booklet with South Hams: “Guide to Help in Difficult Times” for both residents and businesses in the very challenging economic circumstances
Expanded Outreach events now branded as West Devon Connect including the Council, Police, Fire Service, Jobcentre Plus, Age Concern, plus a variety of other charities and organisations on a regular basis will come together to take their services right into the heart of towns and villages throughout the borough
The Council provides a comprehensive domestic recycling scheme on a weekly basis across the borough
Delivered 168 affordable homes in 2010/11
Received an overall judgment of 3 – performs well in the last Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Area Assessment
Delivered an award winning employment project called Opportunity Okehampton through working in partnership with the South West Regional Development Agency
Worked with others to help deliver significant increase in sports facilities including new football pitches and running track in Tavistock

Remuneration

The Chief Executive is paid £115,000 which includes a 10% enhancement for the complexity of a shared service. No Performance Related Pay is payable. The only benefit that is paid is that of essential user car allowance. The cost of the salary is shared on an equal basis between the two Councils. All managerial staff are subject to an annual appraisal to ensure that the Council is being managed appropriately and that Council priorities are being achieved.