Council CEO quits Selby for top York job after three years
Mary Weastell to leave Selby and North Yorks role for top job at City of York.
Politics & local government
The Chief Executive of Selby District Council is expected to stand down later this year after being appointed to the same position in York, TheSelebian has learned.
Mary Weastell is expected to make the move to the neighbouring authority in a matter of months and will succeed Steve Stewart to become the city's top council officer.
The news was broken to SDC members first thing this morning by way of an email from the council's leader, Cllr Mark Crane. In the message, Cllr Crane informed councillors of Ms. Weastell's planned departure and praised her record over the three years of her tenure.
He told members, "By the time Mary takes up the role at York she will have been with Selby District Council three years and I am sure you will agree is a truly visionary [chief executive] and has achieved a great deal for us during this period of time and also for NYCC.
The move was confirmed to local media later in the day with a statement issued by the Council. In it Cllr Crane added, “Mary has driven through some major changes and delivered a great deal for us during her three years at Selby, ensuring we can deliver our ambitions for the district in a constantly challenging environment. She leaves with the District Council really punching above its weight, at the forefront of many of the big challenges facing local government.
“Through strengthening our partnership working we’ve been able to deliver on some big ambitions and opened the way for future growth and investment that will really help the district to play a key role at the heart of Yorkshire and beyond.
“We’ve seen the profile of the district grow significantly, benefiting from our involvement in major events such as the Tour de Yorkshire, supporting major business development sites in the district and the opening later this week of our brand new indoor adventure leisure village, complementing our state-of-the-art leisure centre and increasing our economic growth. We’ve been using the Council’s role as an enabler and facilitator to make things happen for our businesses and residents.
“Mary’s joint role with County Council has also enabled us to deliver some key long-term efficiencies and improvements and provide better integrated services for the residents of our district under the Better Together programme.
“On a personal level I wish Mary every success for the future.”
Alongside her role as chief executive of Selby District Council, Mary has also been Assistant Chief Executive at North Yorkshire County Council. County Council chief executive, Richard Flinton, said, “Mary’s joint role has been crucial in enabling the County Council and District Council to develop their Better Together collaboration programme to put in place joint arrangements that have a major benefit for both councils and residents and communities. This continuing programme has already enabled both authorities to become more efficient in their back office operations, sharing finance, legal and business support expertise, IT services and deliver joint front line services.
“Mary’s new role at York gives us a unique opportunity to press ahead with this joint work across other councils, which will become increasingly important as more powers are devolved from central government to councils working together.”
Ms. Weastell joined Selby three years ago following the retirement of long time chief, Martin Connor. During her time in Selby she has overseen the delivery of Selby Sports Village and played a key role in bringing the Tour de Yorkshire to Selby.