Behind closed doors vote allows Corby Council’s chief executive to retire early

Corby Council’s chief executive will quit the authority after councillors held a private vote to allow him to retire early.

The decision means that Norman Stronach will not see out the end of the council’s life and the role of chief executive is being wound up.

His departure comes after Conservative-led Wellingborough Council also decided this week to make managing director Liz Elliott redundant. However unlike Wellingborough, Labour-run Corby Council did not take the decision about their highest paid officer in an open forum and has not put any details of either the business reasons for his departure or the financial package into the public domain.

Both councils along with the other six in the county are in the process of closing down and will be replaced with two new unitary councils in April, one to provide services to the North of the county and one for the West.

The local government reorganisation has been ordered by central government after the financial collapse of Northamptonshire County Council in 2018 after years of mismanagement.

It is understood that Norman Stronach, who has been at the helm of Corby Council since 2013, had asked leader Cllr Tom Beattie if he could retire early a couple of weeks ago. His term of employment should have ran until the council closed down at the end of March.

A new cap on exit payments for public sector staff is thought to be behind his request. The new legislation agreed by the Conservative government last week means that from November 4, officers will have a £95,000 cap on their exit payment. For many long serving officers this will mean they cannot take a larger lump sum than they may have planned to start their retirement.

An unnamed source who was at the full council meeting held last night said a report was put before the council and all elected members voted on the proposal.

In a statement made this afternoon, Corby Council said: “Norman has worked in local government for a total of 38 years and at Corby Borough Council for 18 years. He began his time in Corby in January 2003 as the Head of Regeneration and Growth, in July 2005 he undertook the position of Corporate Director of Operational Services and then since 2012 has been Chief Executive for the borough council.

“Norman’s departure will see the deletion of the chief executive’s post on 31st October 2020. As of the 1st November Jonathan Waterworth, currently Head of CB Property and Interim Joint Head of Housing, will take on the role of Acting Head of Paid Service and Paul Goult will be designated as Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer for Corby Borough Council.

Both Jonathan Waterworth and Paul Goult will take on these roles on a temporary basis in the lead up to vesting day of North Northants Council in April.”

Leader of Corby Council, Cllr Tom Beattie, said: “I would like to thank Norman for all of his hard work and dedication to Corby Borough Council over his 18 years with us. He has overseen and been part of some real changes in Corby and has pushed the borough’s regeneration and overall vision forward during his time with us. As leader of the council it has been a pleasure to work closely with him over the years.”

There have been concerns expressed in recent weeks that the departure of senior officers from across Northamptonshire councils will have an impact on the unitary reorganisation.The process has already been much hampered by coronavirus and recently it was announced that the officer in charge of the reorganisation, Paul Helsby, will also be leaving at the end of this month.

The new councils will not stand alone for the first few years and will share services. Head offices for the new unitaries are yet to be decided also, as the majority of staff will remain where they currently work, although adult services will run from new community hubs.