The Borough council's agreed the voluntary redundancy of Kim Webber, Chief Executive, as part of a package of savings and measures to deliver a sustainable and self-financing Council by 2021.

And it estimates it still needs to find a further £1.9m of savings or income by 2021/22 to balance the books, as it now receives no revenue support grant from the Government.

The Council agreed further changes to the senior management structure and subsequent savings through the voluntary redundancy of John Harrison, Director of Development and Regeneration, and Terry Broderick, Borough Solicitor.

From 4^th November the Council will put in place a Chief Operating Officer model, and a Chief Operating Officer will be sought, supported by a Corporate Director of Place and Community and a Corporate Director of Transformation & Resources to make a saving of £0.314m per annum. Working together, the Chief Operating Officer and the Corporate Directors will deliver the Council's objectives, together with further income, efficiency and service improvements.

Councillors also agreed changes to support investment opportunities and a more effective approach to digital technology.

Kim Webber, Chief Executive, said "It has been a privilege to serve the Council and communities of West Lancashire as Chief Executive, and be supported by dedicated colleagues across the Council. I have been able to lead and implement change and improvements throughout my career at the Council, and have steered this review for future sustainability to benefit those living and working in West Lancashire."

Added leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Moran: "I would like to place on record my grateful thanks to Kim not only for the 20 years of dedicated service to this Council, but her commitment and drive to ensure the Council is ready to be self-financing. Alongside other authorities across the country we face significant financial pressure as the Government reduce funding and it is important to my Cabinet that we do this with the least impact to the front line services that are so highly valued and relied on by residents. I look forward to working with the new management team as we responsibly prepare for a sustainable future."

Kim Webber, Chief Executive Officer joined the Council in 1999 as Assistant Chief Executive, with a remit for Policy and Performance, and following a series of roles, was subsequently appointed as Joint Managing Director (Transformation) in November 2011 and Chief Executive in 2015. Kim's responsibilities and expertise spans Council Strategy, Policy and Performance and Change Management. With over 30 years of local government experience Kim has previously worked at Bolton MBC, Rochdale MBC and Manchester City Council, where she started her local government career in 1986.

John Harrison, first started his public sector career at Skelmersdale Development Corporation in 1976 as a trainee planning technician. He joined the Council in 1979 as a planning technician and following a succession of promotions was appointed to Head of Planning Services in 2009 and Director of Development and Regeneration in 2016. John's career has been solely dedicated to West Lancashire with both technical and strategic expertise in planning and the environment, economic regeneration and investment and project management. John holds a Diploma in Environmental Planning and is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (MRTPI).

Terry Broderick, joined the Council’s legal team in November 1990, after working at Sefton Council and Southport and Liverpool High and County Courts. He has fulfilled a number of legal roles with the Council and was latterly appointed Borough Solicitor heading up a diverse team, including elections, procurement, land charges, admin services, civic and Member services and development. As a qualified Solicitor, Terry's role covers the full breadth of legal services provided within the Council.In terms of Transparency, the Chief Operating Officer post will carry annual remuneration of £94,500 and the Corporate Director posts will be £81,687.A redundancy payment of £112,386 will be made to the Chief Executive, £90,616 to the Director of Development and Regeneration and £64,205 to the Borough Solicitor.Redundancy costs have been calculated in accordance with the Council’s Redundancy Policy, which complies with the Local Government (Early Termination of Employment) (Discretionary Compensation) (England and Wales) Regulations 2006. Pension strain cost will also be paid to the Pension Fund of £0.422m. The pension strain cost has been calculated in accordance with the Local Government Superannuation Scheme Regulations.Council Policy is that when making posts redundant there should be a payback period of less than three years. The changes to management structure agreed by Council provide a payback period of 2.2 years.

This morning, Cllr Adrian Owens on behalf of the Independent Our West Lancashire group of councillors said: “The council had some hard decisions to make to balance the books last week, but our councillors felt it was wrong to allow the council’s Chief Executive to leave the council in November at the very start of a major restructuring process which will take more than a year to implement.

"Indeed with other recent changes in the street scene area almost a third of council staff either leave the council or have a different job role. ” “We proposed an amendment that would have retained the Chief Executive while still balancing the books. Her 20 plus years of experience with the council could have been retained to steer the ship through these coming changes and local taxpayers would have avoided a very large voluntary redundancy package that will reduce the amount of capital projects that the council can support next year.”