Barrow leaves as dust settles on Council management shake-up
Senior Council Director Mark Barrow, Strategic Director for Development and Culture, has stepped down as Birmingham City Council completes its management restructure.
, Barrow states he “has decided that this is an appropriate opportunity for him to consider a new direction in life and therefore, he will leave the city council at the end January 2014.”
The Birmingham Post , Barrow wrote: “As part of these changes we are restructuring the senior management team; which has given me an opportunity to consider my own future.”
Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Mark has shown tremendous commitment to both the council and the city and, working with partners, we are proud of what has been achieved in terms of the investment, development, and growth in confidence in Birmingham as a place to do business. I wish Mark every success in the future.”
Barrow was appointed in the summer of 2010 to head up a new super-department responsible for regeneration, economic development, planning, transportation and climate change issues. Barrow came from Newcastle-under-Lyme Council, where he was chief executive, and was long seen as a potential successor to Hughes.
Barrow’s departure is the latest news in the ongoing management reform in the Council following the resignation of Chief Executive, Stephen Hughes, in September 2013. Sir Albert Bore added: “Local government is undergoing fundamental change and, in times of austerity, it is absolutely right that we reshape the council, including senior management, to meet new ways of structuring and delivering services.”
Five existing directorates will be abolished, to be replaced by three new departments. These will be a People Department, combining schools and children’s social services, a Place Department to oversee localisation and environmental issues, and an Economy Department charged with bringing jobs to Birmingham.
Newly appointed Chief Executive, Mark Rogers, will take the head of the Economy Directorate, while Peter Hay and Sharon Lea will lead the ‘People’ and ‘Place’ directorates respectively.
Paul Dransfield, Strategic Director for Corporate Resources, has been appointed as the new Deputy Chief Executive, snapping up the final senior officer position, to complete the council’s restructure of senior management. Dransfield took over as temporary chief executive in 2012 when Stephen Hughes was off ill for several months and is widely seen as a safe pair of hands.
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