Portsmouth City councillors decide against new director of transport role

Members of the council's employment committee had asked for the potential for the new high-level management role to be reviewed earlier this year after two assistant directors in the regeneration department, which includes transport, resigned.

'I was initially very keen on the idea of a director of transport,' council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said at a special meeting of the employment committee on Friday. 'But I think it is right to recognise that the enormous change for the good that has come about.

'The recommendation to us is that we stick with the current structure and we don't move to a director of transport and that seems sensible to listen to.'

A report by council chief executive David Williams made the recommendation over concerns the move would lead to the existing position of director of regeneration being lost and that this could complicate major development projects, including those in Tipner and the city centre.

'Addressing the current challenges for delivery of transport functions in the city is best achieved through the recommendations in the peer review report, and not necessarily through changes to structure,’ his report said. ‘The process of undertaking the peer review has engaged the administration, opposition spokespersons, and officers in a constructive dialogue and good progress is being made in achieving improvements to how the transport function operates and delivers transport policies.'

His report followed an external review, commissioned by consultancy firm Shared Intelligence, which called for efforts to be made to improve relationships between council officers and councillors.

More than 20 per cent of roles within the transport department are vacant, with the council saying it is neither able to match salaries offered in the private sector nor those offered by larger councils, including Southampton City Council.

Conservative group leader Simon Bosher, a former opposition spokesman for transport, said there were ‘specific issues’ but that the new role was not the way to resolve them.

He said opposition councillors had found it 'difficult' sourcing information from officers and were often having to wait several weeks for answers.

‘It’s fair to say it’s probably the fastest-moving portfolio that we have in the city council,’ he said. ‘I think this is probably more a function of the fact that they've had a bit of a perfect storm where they've had several very key members of their team leave in the last six to nine months.'

But he said the issue should be examined ‘more widely’ by the council.

Although the committee agreed not to appoint a new director, they did support ‘structural changes’ at lower levels of management within the department.