Welcome to our new Chief Executive

Posted: Monday 11th March 2019

Having the right leadership is important for any local authority or business so that’s why I am delighted to welcome on board our new Chief Executive Sara Todd who has joined us at Trafford.

Sara has a wealth of experience in local government and I am really looking forward to working with her on some of the exciting plans we have for the borough over the coming months.

As well as good leaders, a successful organisation needs to have great staff, so I am really pleased our Adult Social Care team has been given a prestigious honour. They won the gold award in the Innovation in Health and Social Care category for their Let's Talk initiative, at the Public Sector Transformation Awards 2019 in London.

Let's Talk is an approach which places the person at the heart of decisions over their care and focuses on what people are able to do and how they can be supported in continuing to live the lives they want to lead.

The awards organisers praised the initiative for the positive impact it has had on people who use health and social care. Well done to everyone involved!

It is also vital that we invest in our staff and I am particularly proud of our apprenticeship scheme where we take on about 20 apprentices a year in a wide variety of roles.

The chance to ‘earn while you learn’ provides a great path for people at any stage of their career from young people starting out, those re-entering the workforce, or colleagues wanting to reskill.

As the digital lead councillor for Greater Manchester Combined Authority I was recently at a Local Government Association event to talk with fellow councillors from across the country about the barriers and opportunities for innovation that a digital approach brings for the work of local councils.

It was great to hear at first hand how councils are embracing new technology to help improve the services provided to residents and businesses.

Finally, time is running out for people to give their views on the revised version of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework which outlines how the region is going to deliver thousands of new homes and jobs over the next 20 years. 

The consultation closes on Monday March 18. Find out more about the plans.