A new interim boss has been appointed to steer Bromley Council through the tough task of saving the authority millions of pounds.

Outgoing chief Doug Patterson will be retiring following 11 years at the helm, making him one of the capital’s longest serving council bosses.

Chief executives are the most powerful officers in a council, and work alongside the elected members to shape the direction of the authority’s work and oversee operations.

At a full council meeting on Monday night, council leader Colin Smith paid tribute to the outgoing boss.

Cllr Smith said: “Mr Patterson has been an outstanding chief executive and an outstanding ambassador for the officer class. We will miss him and we all wish him the very best. But as we all know, when one door closes another opens.”

 

Councillors gave the go-ahead for the deputy chief executive Ade Adetosoye to take the reins, upping his pay by £11k to £179,845.

Mr Adetosoye has worked on improving the council’s children’s services, which was criticised by Ofsted following an inspection in 2016.

A better rating is expected following a recent re-inspection, which will have been helped by the work of Mr Adetosoye.

Cllr Smith said: “The job that Mr Adetosoye has done with children’s services has been remarkable.

“No one would argue he hasn’t earned this opportunity. We wait with bated breath the outcome of Ofsted.

“This proposal and the restructure of senior management will provide this authority with much-needed cash savings.

“The transformation programme that Mr Adetosoye is going to have to lead, to save this council money moving into the future, cannot be understated. It is the most essential task facing this authority.”

Angela Wilkins, leader of the opposition, said it was a worry that the director of children’s services was to be temporarily moved into the hot-seat as Ofsted had previously criticised the council for not replacing senior children’s services staff quickly.

Cllr Peter Fortune, cabinet member for children and deputy leader at the council, said: “You’re absolutely correct, and sustainability has been something we have been really focussing on. We do have key officer posts already filled.

“Across London there is a unique issue around recruiting chief executives. There are quite a few seats sitting empty.

“We are very lucky to have him acting up and we will seek to make sure we have a permanent chief executive as soon as possible.”