Pat deserves our thanks for her work

IT’S the end of an era at Cheltenham Borough Council this week with Pat Pratley retiring as chief executive. Pat joined the council in 2006 as director of corporate services and after a period as deputy chief executive for the last few years she has been our chief executive.

Councillors are elected to take decisions for their local area but that would be rather pointless if there was no one to carry them out.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, the role of council chief executive is to ensure that councillors get sound advice before taking decisions and that those decisions, once taken, are carried out while remaining politically neutral.

This has never been easy but has been even more difficult given the large reductions in central funding we have seen in recent years.

Pat has always given sound advice as well as ensured that the council is geared up to provide the services needed in Cheltenham.

All councils have looked at new ways of running services and raising new sources of income, with Cheltenham at the forefront of this.

When doing this, particularly setting up shared services with other councils, the devil can certainly be in the detail. Fortunately Pat was master of the detail and helped ensure that Cheltenham got the services needed.

As chief executive, Pat has fostered strong links with other local organisations, which has certainly helped ensure that our ambitious plans for the future have wide buy-in across the town.

The council is well placed to play its part in supporting exciting projects like Cyber Central. It has also changed its investment strategy to have a proactive role in investing in our local economy. The council has recently won a number of awards, such as the Best Commercial Council from the Municipal Journal.

While many people have been involved in earning these, they are just reward for Pat’s efforts in building a team that means Cheltenham Council can face the future with confidence.

Cheltenham has a lot to thank Pat for and I would wish her and husband Paul a long and happy retirement. Councillor Steve Jordan Leader, Cheltenham Borough Council