David Sidaway confirmed as chief executive
David Sidaway has been officially confirmed as Telford & Wrekin Council’s chief executive following a unanimous vote tonight by a meeting of Full Council.
The vote follows the announcement last Friday that David would be returning to the council that he left to join Stoke-on-Trent City Council in early 2015.
He was a director at Telford & Wrekin Council before he left and was the driving force behind Telford centre’s transformation through the £250m public and private sector Southwater development.
Southwater has created more than 400 new jobs and created a vibrant night time economy in what was formerly dead space, linking the Shopping Centre, convention quarter and the award winning town park.
Southwater has become a major regional leisure hub with bars, restaurants and leisure attractions like Telford Ice Rink and an 11 screen Imax cinema.
David was also instrumental in the council attracting the MoD Logistics Fulfilment Centre to Donnington, safeguarding hundreds of jobs.
He also worked to secure one of the biggest direct foreign investments in the UK in the last decade – the Magna International automotive parts plant on the T54 Technology Park, creating 300 new jobs.
Before he left, David also oversaw rationalisation of the Council’s offices, reducing this from over 20 different sites to three core locations, saving £2m a year.
He also set up the Council’s private housing company Nuplace which has so far built over 330 new rental homes in the borough, mainly on brownfield land.
Following confirmation of his appointment, David said: “What excites me most about my new role is that the Council’s vision and the priorities for this great borough match my own. Collectively, working with the council’s leadership and with my team, we will create a stronger borough and help deliver those priorities at pace.
“Telford and Wrekin is a place that I love and is very close to my heart. I look forward to ensuring that the borough that gave me the opportunities in my career is able to move on to the next level of achievement and continues to prosper.”
Telford & Wrekin Council leader Councillor Shaun Davies said: “I am delighted that Full Council has approved David’s appointment and together with my cabinet colleagues, I very much look forward to welcoming him back to Telford and Wrekin.
“He is very much the right person to lead us forward and ensure that as a council and a borough, we move on to the next level and continue to prosper.”
David joins Telford & Wrekin Council from Stoke-on-Trent City Council, where he was in the equivalent post of City Director.
