COUNCILLORS have raised concerns that Herefordshire Council’s newly appointed chief executive may not relocate to the county.

Full council has today (January 22) voted to give Paul Walker the £155,000 a year job at the county council.

But council leader David Hitchiner could not guarantee that the new chief executive would relocate to Herefordshire.

Mr Walker is understood to be living in Preston.

“He will make a base in Herefordshire. He has no intention of having that just from Monday to Friday,” coun Hitchiner said.

“He will be here for a longer period and will get his wife to come down.

“In this modern world, we have to accept that wives have careers as well as men do.

“If you limit yourself to only having people where the man has a career then it’s neither dealing with equality or a real recognition with how things are in this modern world.

“I hope the men around the room who are married will acknowledge that having a happy wife is a really important feature.

“Paul has been working in Harrow for the last three years very effectively. He is committed to the county.

“We just have to accept that in the modern world we do things slightly differently.

“I’m confident he will work very hard for our county.

“If his wife comes down here and she says this is an absolutely wonderful place them I’m sure he will move lock, stock and barrel.

“But maybe he will maintain two houses. I suspect that is how it will be.”

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Credenhill ward councillor Bob Matthews said he was sorry to hear about the uncertainty over whether he would move to the county.

He said it was important that the chief executive lives within the area.

“I would have thought with someone of this status and financial payment that every effort should be made to make sure he relocates himself in the county,” he said.

Tupsley ward councillor Jim Kenyon said the council should have looked at whether it actually needed a chief executive.

“For many years there’s been talk about whether we need one or what and the cost of it.”

Mr Walker has an extensive background in working in local government.

Coun Hitchiner said: “Paul has five years’ experience as chief executive at Copeland Borough Council in the Lake District.

“It’s an area of the country very similar to ours so there will be some familiarity there.

“I have no concern that Paul will grasp quickly the issues we face as a rural county and will fit in with our communities.

“Paul left Copeland in 2015 on the election of a mayor and carried out some consultancy work and in 2017 took a role as corporate director in Harrow.”

He said his experience at a local authority with financial challenges like those Herefordshire Council is facing.

A total of 44 councillors voted for his appointment, with six abstentions and one vote against.