Friday brief: Concerns as some staff leave North unitary to join the West

Plus no date for when hospital will receive rebuild cash, Big Green Action Week and our new Westminster Watch feature

A senior officer has said some staff from the North unitary are leaving their roles to take up newly advertised posts in the West.

North Northamptonshire Council finance director Janice Gotts told councillors at this week’s finance scrutiny committee that the authority still had to work out what jobs were needed, that ‘there was not a rush to fill vacancies’ and admitted some staff from the North had now moved to jobs that had been advertised by the West authority. She did not give a figure about how many had departed.

Her comments were in response to concerns raised by both the chair of the committee Labour’s Cllr Mark Pengelly and Conservative member Cllr David Jenney.

Cllr Jenney, who was not impressed by the finance director’s reply, said: “That is the party line that has been coming out from senior officers since Christmas. It is time that somebody put their head above the parapet. Staffing is a major issue.”

He also said decisions needed to be made about which council premises would…