MIKE Pitt will bring out the bubbly when he is asked to leave Swindon Council because it will mean he has done a good job.

The interim chief executive has set out his plan to turn the council into one of the best in the country.

And he revealed he will stay on at the authority for about a year after his initial six-month contract to see through the ambitious programme.

"My impression of Swindon Council is of good members and good officers feeling frustrated that they haven't been able to make the progress that they all want to make," he said.

"It will be a wonderful day when members turn to me and say we are ready to appoint a permanent chief executive. We will open a bottle of champagne."

Mr Pitt joined Swindon in April on secondment from Kent County Council, which is consistently rated excellent by the Government, and has been compiling the 'full recovery' report for the authority.

As reported in the second edition of yesterday's Adver he will reduce the number of council departments from eight to five, advertising nationally for top managers who will be paid more than the current directors.

Each of the five group directors will be paid £117,000-a-year.

But Mr Pitt insists the current directors are happy about the changes.

"The corporate board supports the proposal to advertise the jobs nationally," he said.

"They recognise that these are different jobs from the ones they do currently and they will be applicants for the jobs but they must prove themselves against national competition."

Other suggestions which all have to be approved by full council next week that may cause controversy are to turn Swindon Services into an arms-length operation and to reduce the number of council meetings and the amount of paperwork.

"Many councils can become unreasonably bureaucratic on the assumption that it is important to record every argument, every option, every possibility," he said.

"We want to have an organisation which can make decisions quickly and efficiently. We want to be able to reach agreement by word of mouth and to trust each other."

But he denied the move would mean less openness and accountability.

Coun Kevin Small, leader of the Labour group on the council, said he supported some areas of the plan but had several concerns.

He was particularly worried about how the proposals would be funded. "We can't endorse this level of expenditure without knowing where the money is going to come from," he said. He was also concerned, about making the council top-heavy with so many directors working under the five group directors.

Coun Small was also unhappy that opposition councillors were not consulted on the recovery plan.

"This is a Conservative recovery plan not a Swindon Council recovery plan," he said. "Some of the concerns could have been avoided if they had consulted more widely."

Changes at the top

THE council's eight departments become five, with fewer top managers being paid more.

The departments are Children, Housing and Social Care, Environment and Leisure, Resources, and Partnership and Performance.

Each department's group director will be paid £117,000 while the next chief executive will get £150,000.

The jobs will be advertised nationally, not automatically given to existing directors.

Swindon Services

SWINDON Services will become an 'arms-length contractor' supplying services to the council.

The department would then be expected to make a 'substantial surplus' which would be reinvested in front-line services.

The department would be re-named Swindon Commercial Services and the director would report to a new supervisory board.

A report into this move is still being compiled and the details may change.

Euclid Street

ALL the main council buildings will be moved on to one site at Euclid Street.

Currently council officers are based in different buildings around the town but this wastes time and money.

The move is estimated to cost £28m but the council hopes to raise money by selling off the sites that would no longer be needed.

It is hoped that this will also help the regeneration process in Swindon's town centre.

Meetings slashed

LONG meetings and huge piles of paperwork could become a thing of the past in an attempt to reduce bureaucracy.

Members and officers will be encouraged to reduce the number, size and length of meetings which 'take up so much time and energy'.

Officers should also cut down on paperwork and rely more heavily on trust and the spoken word. Where advice or decisions must be recorded it is recommended this is done 'sparingly'.

Keeping in contact

MEMBERS of the public should find it easier to contact the council.

As well as a 'first stop shop' to be housed along with the central library in the old Town Hall, improved telephone and internet access is planned.

The council will encourage the public to use its website, which is the cheapest way for the council to deal with inquiries.

But there will also be a 24-hour call centre, staffed by 30 to 40 people.

Isabel Field