Green light for green champion

The need to do more for less means local authorities face a pivotal moment in their history, and few more so than Leeds City Council. As the largest in the region, it has a vital role to play in driving Yorkshire back to economic prosperity. One of its other main roles is to help stimulate a new, green economy and that offers a major clue as to how they chose their new chief executive.

Mr Riordan has overseen a culture change in his time at Yorkshire Forward. He has put the region at the forefront of the green revolution and his work with the private sector has brought some 160m of European funding to the region, beating off rival bids from around the UK to develop what will be the world's biggest carbon capture and storage clean coal power plant at Hatfield, near Doncaster.

This will be part of his legacy and is one of the reasons he was named Green Champion at this year's Yorkshire Post Environment Awards. His role at Leeds, the region's largest council, will not just be more of the same, however.

Leeds's legal and financial sectors led the city's surge to economic prosperity in the early part of this decade and, sadly, they have been among those suffering the most as it went into recession.

Mr Riordan must make it a priority to foster close links between city fathers and the business community and, as Britain emerges from recession, make it clear that Leeds is genuinely open for business.

Inside the council, he must put in place the directors of services who can make Leeds a modern, lean and dynamic local authority. It is a long to-do list but, with a skill for quiet diplomacy, Mr Riordan is well-placed to navigate the choppy waters ahead.