Cornwall Council has confirmed the appointment of its three new corporate directors.
The Council announced in February that it was reducing its current number of six directorates to three as part of a shake-up of its management structure.
Trevor Doughty, who joined the Council in 2010 as corporate director for children’s services, has been named as the corporate director for education, health and social care.
Paul Masters, formerly the Council’s assistant chief executive and who had also served as interim chief executive following the departure of Kevin Lavery, has been appointed as the corporate director for community and organisational development.
He will be responsible for a wide range of services, including localism, business management, community safety and protection.
Finally, Michael Crich, currently the Council’s director of resources, has been appointed as the corporate director for economy, enterprise and environment. This new directorate includes economic development, tourism; planning, housing, and regeneration, transport (including highways and public transport), waste and environment, (including countryside services, public rights of way, beaches, heritage and maritime services).
The appointment of the three new corporate directors marks the completion of the first phase of a wider Council restructuring, which will deliver initial savings of around £400k. The new corporate directors will now review the shape and structure of all the services within their areas. This will deliver further management savings which will help protect frontline services.
Welcoming the appointments, chief executive, Andrew Kerr, said: “We now have a strong team in place to lead the Council in the next stage of its development. All three corporate directors have a proven track record and I look forward us working together to re shape the way we deliver services to people in Cornwall.
“We face some significant challenges over the next four years as we are forced to reduce our spending by £190 million at the same time as continuing to deliver services.
“Streamlining the organisation will help us to reduce costs but will not in itself deliver all the savings we need. We will need to do things in a different way and to have the courage to make some very difficult decisions.”
