Hackney's Polly Rance promoted to comms chief

The council has promoted head of media and external relations Polly Rance to a new role of head of comms and consultation.

The role replaces the assistant chief executive for comms job, previously held by Carl Welham in an interim capacity.

The council has achieved cuts of 40 per cent over the past three financial years, culminating in a restructure that takes effect from 1 April. This has partly been achieved by making redundancies, most of which have been voluntary.

Rance said: 'Hackney has suffered cuts to its central government grants and it is right that we should shape our service in line with the administration's priority, which is to protect frontline services for residents.'

Rance added that the council faced more pressure with the forthcoming London 2012.

The restructure has focused on the core needs of the organisation, by reducing senior management costs and amalgamating teams to create newly integrated functions. Welham's role is being made obsolete from 31 March, although he will be staying with the authority in a business development role outside comms.

This article was first published on prweek.com