A NEW chief executive has been appointed at Winchester City Council.

Laura Taylor will take on the role and is due to start in early January 2017.

It comes after the departure of Simon Eden who left in September after 13 years at the helm.

She will be the first female chief executive in Winchester City Council history. 

The crucial role will see her act as City Council’s most senior officer, advising councillors and leading staff management and service delivery. 

She will be responsible for 470 staff, a budget of over £90m a year and a capital programme of more than £170m over the next five years.

Mrs Taylor is currently Executive Director at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and has previously worked at other Hampshire authorities including Test Valley Borough Council and Eastleigh Borough Council.

She has also worked at Mole Valley District Council in Surrey where she worked to bring the road cycle race event to Surrey in the London 2012 Olympics.

Her professional background is in environmental and public health but over her 30-year career in the public sector, she has developed experience of leading a range of customer-facing services.

In her current role she is responsible for a number of major development and regeneration projects along with business liaison.

Laura Taylor said: “Winchester is an attractive place to live, to work and to visit.  I look forward to helping members and colleagues work with local communities and organisations to develop and deliver the Council’s ambitious plans for the future.”

Winchester City Council is facing several challenges including building a new leisure centre, the future of the Silver Hill site and whether the Station Approach scheme can be rebooted successfully and also the nationwide problem that council’s are facing of delivering services with budgets slashed from central government.

However leader of Winchester City Council Stephen Godfrey believes that she is up to the task.

Cllr Godfrey said: “Laura’s experience and fresh approach will help Winchester to tackle its many challenges including devolution,  improving services against a backdrop of reducing budgets and safeguarding the city’s heritage while looking to the future.”