Deafening silence

Labour council leader Sue Bates yesterday issued a short statement, upon which she declined to expand further, while Mr Doherty refused to comment.

Coun Bates claimed he had not resigned, despite the Advertiser learning from a number of sources that he has agreed to voluntary severance of his £100,000-plus contract.

She said: "I can confirm that Paul Doherty has not resigned from his current post, as appears to have been implied today.

"I would also remind the media that it is council policy not to discuss contractual terms and conditions and any negotiations that take place concerning an individual's employment."

It is true, as the Advertiser reported yesterday, that the details of Mr Doherty's departure are yet to be finalised, such as leaving date and severance package. But it is also true that he has agreed to Coun Bates' written request for him to consider leaving by mutual agreement.

Today, Coun Bates ignored several calls from the Adver plain what was happening. When pressed, her assistant, Erica Ballman, said: "She is not prepared to discuss it in public."

But Conservative counterpart Mike Bawden insisted it was time for a fresh face in charge.

He said: "The Conservative group has had reservations for the last 12 months about whether Mr Doherty was the right man to carry the borough forward.

"We have told him we have no confidence in him, directly as a result of the council's education and social services failures.

"We think it's best that a fresh person comes in, preferably someone who has been a chief executive, who can tell us where we are going wrong.

"We want he or she to tell us what and how long it's going to take to get us out of this mess."

The Tory leader said Mr Doherty was ultimately responsible for the council's poor service delivery, highlighted by dreadful external reports on his two biggest departments.

Coun Bawden added: "When the bouquets are given out, senior managers are usually at the front of the queue, so they have to be prepared to be accountable when things go wrong."

Liberal Democrat leader Mike Evemy declined to comment specifically about Mr Doherty's departure, but said his party would work hard to help turn the council around.

He said: "Yes, the council is in a very difficult situation at the moment. My party has been working and will continue to work with the other political groups to turn around the council's failures. That's what the people who elect us expect of us they expect us to sort the problems out and we're doing that."

Meanwhile, community leaders gave a mixed reaction today to news of Mr Doherty's departure.

South Swindon MP Julia Drown said: "I would like to recognise that Paul has given six years' service and has worked hard in difficult circumstances. But this is about him taking responsibility for the real problems that have arisen in Swindon. I hope that, with a fresh face, we can look forward to a more positive future for Swindon."

Martha Parry, who has led a frustrating campaign to save the Mechanics Institute in Emlyn Square, said: "There's no question that things have not been right at the top of the council for some time. He's not the only person responsible the elected representatives need to answer for what they've done, because I fear they hired a lightweight who would do what the councillors told him to do."

Dennis Grant, chief executive of Swindon Chamber of Commerce, said he would miss Mr Doherty's "professionalism and co-operative approach".

"It's always regretful when a senior executive leaves an organisation at a time of so much change," he said. "If there is one thing that Swindon needs today, poised as it is at possibly the most momentous stage of its development since the demise of the railway era, it is continuity at the top.

"Paul Doherty's role was pivotal to the town. The chamber hopes that the new chief executive, aside from the obvious prerequisites for the job, will also have those critical people skills that will be of paramount importance to Swindon."

Peter Wells, chairman of the Swindon Association of Secondary Headteachers and head of St Joseph's School, said he was sorry to see him go.

"I understand why the chief officer has felt it necessary to resign given the bad reports that have come in, but since September the work he has done to respond to the Ofsted report has been very important to turning things around," he said. "He leaves with my respect and understanding."