Warrington: Chief exec retirement 'right time for council reset'
A 'beacon' of regeneration
Prof Broomhead was the local authority's chief executive from 1997 to 2003 and then took up the role again, initially on an interim basis, in 2012.From 2003 to 2010, he was the chief executive of the North West Regional Development Agency.Prof Broomhead said during his time in charge at Warrington Council, he was proud of the redevelopment of the town centre, in particular the council's Time Square development."I'm proud about how we've managed to deliver so much, given the level of funding we've had," he said."We work here in Warrington really well in a partnership way with the private sector."I think we've done some really good things here, we're often held up as a beacon of how to do regeneration."
But he also highlighted his work at the NWRDA, in particular the regeneration of MediaCity in Salford, and said the agency's work is still noted more than a decade after its closure."People still approach me about it and talk about the things we did because they triggered lots of other investments."MediaCity was just the BBC moving out of London with seven departments, but it's been a great economic success and other media companies, including private companies, have joined MediaCity."There's examples of that all round the North West."The regional development agencies were closed in 2012 and replaced with local enterprise partnerships, which were now set to have their functions merged with councils and combined authorities after the withdrawal of central government funding.He said he hoped devolution would provide an alternative.Cheshire and Warrington was currently going through the devolution process and was set to elect its first mayor in May 2026."I hope what you'll see is the combined authorities, which we hope we'll have a full set of within a year, they'll work co-operatively around the economic agenda."
Time for a 'reset'
Warrington Council has faced controversy in recent years, especially around its investment programme which has led to it building up around £1.8bn in debt.A government inspection was ordered after concerns about the level of debt, and it has been recommended that ministerial envoys be sent into the authority.Prof Broomhead said his decision to retire was not linked to the recent inspection and he thought now was time to handover for a "reset"."Someone else will lead [the council] in a different way than I have for the last 20 years, so I think now is the right time," he said.
See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage attends Goodwood races as guest of multi-millionaire Tory donor
NIGEL Farage enjoyed the company of a multi-millionaire Tory donor during a day at the races last week, The Sun can reveal. The meeting between the Reform UK leader and entrepreneur Dr James Hay is likely to trigger speculation over future political donations. The Scottish businessman and his wife, Fitriani, who are based in Dubai and worth £325million, have given substantial sums to the Conservatives in the past. Fitriani was one of the main financial backers of ex-PM Liz Truss's Tory leadership campaign, donating £100,000. Racing fan Mr Farage was a guest of owners the Hays during Glorious Goodwood on Friday. He was spotted in the parade ring with Mr Hay and later in a hospitality area. Meanwhile, senior Labour figures expressed panic over big business backing Reform. Industry chiefs will be at the party's annual rally next month. Farage fury as cops admit ESCORTING pro-migrant protesters to Essex asylum hotel
The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
Business chiefs are demanding Rachel Reeves offers tax incentives to help a million young people into workplace
BUSINESS chiefs are demanding Rachel Reeves offers tax incentives to help a million young people into the workplace. More than 100 industry bosses, including Toyota and JCB, have written to the Chancellor demanding help to avoid youths ending up on the scrapheap. 2 Demands are being laid out for a Skills Tax Relief at the Budget with claims it could save £10 billion over five years in welfare savings. The calls come as the talent of one million NEETs – Not in Education, Employment or Training – is going to waste. Georgina Bristol, of the Jobs Foundation, said: 'We know that businesses are the best engine for providing that vital first step on the career ladder for young people. 'But businesses are facing too many additional costs, which is stopping them from fulfilling this vital role. 'We are not short of young people with ambition. We are short of clear routes into real work. A Skills Tax Relief could give business the tools to offer that hope.' Young people who were in this category before the pandemic stood at 10.7 per cent but this then hit a peak of 13.2 per cent – representing 987,000 not earning or even learning a skill. The joint letter from 125 business leaders wants Ms Reeves to bring in some form of tax incentive to enable funding in young people. Prominent signatories include chairman of JCB Lord Anthony Bamford, Labour Peer Lord Jon Mendelsohn and sports promoter Barry Hearn. The Jobs Foundation also highlights that that the number of apprenticeships has fallen by 40 per cent since 2016. The Chancellor last month told a House of Lords committee that getting young people back into work is where 'the biggest crisis exists'. Raising taxes will kill off growth, Reeves warned as she pledges to rip up business red tape 2
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Lenders in car finance scandal brace for judgment from investors
Shares in lenders most likely to be forced into compensation payments to consumers who purchased vehicles on credit will be closely watched in the City on Monday, after the financial watchdog set out plans for a redress scheme of up to £18 billion. Close Brothers, Lloyds Bank, Barclays and the controlling group of Santander UK, among Britain's largest providers of motor finance, could see an impact on their share prices as investors consider the consequences of the Financial Conduct Authority announcing plans for a potential compensation scheme that could distribute payments as soon as next year. The FCA said on Sunday that a redress scheme could cost between £9 billion and £18 billion and should cover car loans dating back to 2007. Individuals could receive payments of almost £950 each. The announcement from the City watchdog came after the Supreme Court overruled key elements of an earlier judgment from the Court of Appeal in October that could have put the motor finance industry on the line for compensation payments of more than £30 billion, similar in scale to the £50 billion of payouts under the payment protection insurance scandal of the 2010s. Following that October ruling, shares in Close Brothers, one of the largest players in Britain's motor finance market, slumped by about a quarter in just one day. Shares in Lloyds Bank, which is exposed via its Black Horse lending arm, tumbled by more than 7 per cent. RBC Capital Markets predicted a 'sector impact' of £11.5 billion, with banks paying £3.8 billion and non-banks paying £7.7 billion. Banks had already set aside billions of pounds for possible compensation payments for people who bought a vehicle from a dealership that failed to properly disclose commissions they received from lenders. Lloyds Banking Group alone reserved £1.2 billion. However, analysts at the investment bank Jefferies predicted that the regulator's plans 'largely de-risk Lloyds' shares' from the scandal and that the redress scheme 'is consistent with our long-held assumptions'. Carmakers will also be in focus as many have their own in-house credit divisions. In the wake of the October Court of Appeal ruling, Honda and BMW stopped offering new loans to customers. Alex Neill, co-founder of the rights group Consumer Voice, said: 'Millions of drivers placed their trust in car dealers to secure a fair deal, yet were kept in the dark about unfair commissions that inflated the cost of borrowing. Now, for the first time there is a clear path to justice.' Slater and Gordon, a law firm, said: 'While the [Supreme] Court effectively sided with lenders in two of the three cases, the judgment does not close the door on compensation.' However, it said it was 'concerned that aspects of any proposed redress scheme may inadvertently exclude a significant number of those affected'. Adrian Dally, director of motor finance at the Finance & Leasing Association, an industry body, said: 'We have concerns about whether it is possible to have a fair redress scheme that goes back to 2007 when firms have not been required to hold such dated information, and the evidence base will be patchy at best.' The FCA shocked the motor finance industry in January last year when it announced it would examine so-called discretionary commissions paid to dealers between April 2007 and January 2021, when these types of payments were banned. Under such discretionary commission arrangements, brokers were allowed to set the interest rate on loans extended to borrowers. If they charged a higher rate, they would receive larger commissions, so they were motivated to do so at the expense of consumers' finances. Concerns within the motor finance market then amplified in October when the Court of Appeal decided that car dealers, in their capacity as credit brokers, had a fiduciary duty to their customers, meaning that they should act in consumers' best interests. It also said that undisclosed commissions amounted to bribes. Key elements of this judgment were overturned by the Supreme Court last Friday. There were about 25.9 million motor finance deals arranged between 2007 and the end of 2020, although the Supreme Court ruling means many will be ineligible for redress. There had been fears in the government that lenders would face a deluge of compensation claims, leading to the car finance market seizing up. The Treasury had been considering whether to step in to protect lenders.
