Cash paves way for town manager

Wellington could soon have a town manager again after nearly a year of legal wrangles over who will pay for the post.

The last manager, Rosemary Smith, departed 11 months ago. The job has been vacant since.

The stumbling block has been a complex three-way negotiation between Wellington Town Council, Telford & Wrekin Council and Wellington Partnership over finances.

Critics have said it is appalling that no manager is in place when the town is struggling to cope with the recession and is on the brink of an £8.5 million regeneration scheme.

Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for The Wrekin, Paul Kalinauckas, claimed the delay in appointing a new manager was contributing to Wellington's "serious decline".

He said: "The job of the town manager is to improve the economic viability of business activity, to identify new sources of funding and promote Wellington as a great place to invest, shop, visit, work and be entertained."

Now it looks as if agreement could be reached and a new manager taken on by the summer after the release of cash to fund the post.

Wellington Town Council is to discuss the issue on Tuesday after recommendations by its policy and resources committee.

The committee heard Telford & Wrekin Council had approved a £38,000 grant from its borough towns initiative. Members accepted the job description for the manager's post and voted that the town council should be the employer.

They agreed the interviewing panel should be made up of one member of Wellington Partnership and two from the town council.

Borough council cabinet member for regeneration Eric Carter has denied the borough was to blame for the delay. He said his council was committed to bringing new life to Wellington.

Telford & Wrekin Council has come up with a more traditional design for its propo- sed revamp of the civic quarter following complaints the original drawings looked like something more suited to the Costa del Sol.