The Chair opened the meeting and reminded everyone that the meeting was being webcast and a copy retained on the website.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Pat Cleary who was substituted by Councillor Ewan Tomeny.

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members of the Sub-Committee were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests, in connection with any item on the agenda and state the nature of the interest.

No declarations were made.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meetings held on 6 and 7 February 2024.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings held on 6 and 7 February 2024 be approved as a correct record.

The Chief Executive of Wirral Council presented this report which provided an update on the arrangements to appoint an Interim Director to the post of Director of Regeneration and Place pending a permanent recruitment and sought permission to recruit a permanent staff member to the position of Director of Regeneration and Place following retirement. The report also sought approval of the recruitment timetable and detailed the current Chief Officer Structure, including all ‘Chief Officer’ and ‘Deputy Chief Officer’ roles as defined by Part 1 of the Localism Act 2011.

Due to the scale of the regeneration, the Interim Director of Regeneration and Place needed to be in place for a longer period of time and would need to assess the structure, ability and capacity of the regeneration team. A further report was to be brought to the sub-committee in July 2024 to provide an update.

Members discussed recruitment and asked about the position in the labour market. It was reported that the labour market was very challenging in terms of both the interim and the permanent positions. The Interim Director of Regeneration and Place was to be asked to update the job description for the permanent role in order to attract the right candidate to deliver the regeneration plan. It is essential for the new Director of Regeneration and Place to deliver on the Council’s regeneration agenda and engage with other parts of the organisation such as legal and finance and bring Members along on that journey. It was reported that with a strong set of Assistant Directors there was movement towards adoption of the Local Plan.

It was explained to Members that the recruitment process for the Interim Director of Regeneration and Place role was to include the same stages as the recruitment of the permanent Director of Regeneration and Place except there would be no formal final panel. Members highlighted the need for the candidates to understand the complexities of the committee system and the need to work with stakeholders both internally and externally.

It was clarified to Members that the Interim Director of Regeneration and Place post was to be recruited externally. The Interim Director of Regeneration and P  lace was to put in place development plans for the Assistant Directors and should any of them wish to apply for the permanent Director role they would have some time to progress into that.

Councillor Phil Gilchrist proposed an addition to recommendation 3 as follows: “and take account of the preferences expressed by Members” and Councillor Jean Robinson proposed that the date in recommendation 4 be amended to July 2024, which was seconded by Councillor Phil Gilchrist. The amendments were agreed by assent.

Resolved – That

1. the arrangements in hand to appoint an interim Director of Regeneration and Place as set out in section 4 of this report be noted.

2. the Chief Executive intent to proceed with recruiting a permanent staff member to the position of Director of Regeneration and Place be noted.

3. the options  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.