Are councils planning enough to groom new chiefs?

"I have recently been speaking to a number of authorities who have woken up to the reality of the need to succession plan. Planning for tomorrow's people today is business critical, not just a good thing to be seen to do."

Terry MacDougall

Director,  Solace Enterprises

"Probably not. There needs to be a clearer view across local government of the skills needed to be a chief executive. There are some common themes to the role regardless of size and scope of the organisation. Only when this is understood can coherent succession planning take place."

Will Godfrey

Chief executive, East Hampshire DC

"The selection of chief executives is driven by market forces. Some struggling authorities have a tendency to hike up the salaries to try to get good-quality staff. I believe there's enough talent around and if councils followed the unitary route you'd get some sense back into the market place."

Jim Graham

Chief executive, Warwickshire CC

"Local government tends to operate a management structure with technical or subject specialists, even at director level. This means that the only senior general manager is the chief executive and so the answer is often 'no'."

Richard Crouch

Head of human resources and organisational development, Somerset CC

"As someone who has come into local government from the civil service, I am tremendously impressed by the quality of staff. There is no shortage of excellent internal candidates for chief executive posts. But positions attract excellent external candidates too, so the competition is tough."

David Hill

Chief executive, Ashford BC

"There is talent but it isn't accompanied by the blagging ability used by most chief executives. As James Connolly put it: 'The great are only great because we are on our knees.' Alas, modesty alone prevents me from being considered in succession planning, such a loss to council leadership."

Roger Backhouse

Treasurer, Seven Kings & Goodmayes Allotment Society