Council chiefs are about to do away with the role of “Head of Climate Change, Buildings & Energy”, a post only created in 2011.  This move follows closely on the Council’s abolition in March this year of the post of Director of Environmental Strategy, a victim of central government cuts.

In a report entitled “Growth and Neighbourhoods” that will be signed off by the Personnel Committee on Wednesday morning, Council leaders announce

“It is proposed to disestablish the existing post of Head of Climate Change, Buildings & Energy (£57k) and replace this with a post of Assistant Director, Greater Manchester Environment Team (£65k) which will be fully funded by AGMA. This new post will work alongside the Manchester Environmental Strategy Team led by the Head of Policy, Partnerships & Research.”

We asked Manchester City Council for a comment as to what gaps the promotion of an experienced individual would leave, and whether any of the £57k saved would be spent on hiring additional staff within the “Manchester Environmental Strategy Team.”

They quickly gave us the following statement;

Councillor Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council’s executive member for the environment, said: “We have had to review all of the City Council’s services following the savage government cuts, and the establishment of a new AGMA-funded post makes perfect sense, particularly as much of the work we now do is focused on working with our colleagues across Greater Manchester to address the challenges and opportunities of climate change across the city region.
“This move demonstrates that we still put this issue at the heart of everything we do and, while the harsh reality of the spending cuts mean it will not be possible to hire additional officers, the new assistant director will still use his experience to support the City Council’s own highly skilled team.”

I think Councillor Murphy may be referring to the same government led by one David Cameron, who announced on May 14th 2010 that he wanted the Coalition government to be “greenest ever.”

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com