Shortlist drawn up for officer to lead region through £40m crisis

The council's previous chief executive, John Marsden, warned before his departed in March of the financial pressures that his successor will face amid a surge in demand for services while funding from Westminster falls significantly.

A shortlist of five candidates to take on the job of chief executive was drawn up last week, and they will now be interviewed by the council's chief officers' appointment committee on Tuesday next week.

The council's leader, Coun John Weighell, who is the chairman of the committee, said: "It is a huge decision and we have to get it right, especially in light of the financial situation.

"If you get the appointment of your chief executive correct, then that helps a long way to making sure the council runs properly."

The interview process will span two days, with the council's senior managers and other members are given the chance to meet the candidates on Monday next week.

Representatives from other local authorities, including North Yorkshire Police, the county's fire brigade, NHS and district councils, will also be able to meet the short-listed applicants.

The formal interviews will take place on Tuesday next week, before a decision is made by the chief officers appointment committee that afternoon as to who should be appointed.

Once the job offer has been accepted and a contract agreed, the appointment of the next chief executive will be ratified at a full council meeting on Wednesday, May 19.

However, concerns are growing that up to 500 posts could be lost from the local authority, which employs 24,000, during the next three years in the battle to balance an annual 900m budget.

One of the greatest pressures that the council is facing on its services is the increasing demand for care of the elderly as North Yorkshire has witnessed a rapidly changing slant towards an ageing population.

Mr Marsden, who has taken up the role of North Tyneside Council's chief executive, admitted that local authorities nationally are facing the biggest financial pressures in a generation since the major cuts imposed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

However, he stressed that a long-term strategy is being drawn up in North Yorkshire to prevent a knee-jerk reaction to the lack of funding.