Charlie’s pride...

LASTING legacy: Mr Parker (left) and council leader Jim McMahon celebrate Oldham Council’s “remarkable transformation”

‘It’s been an honour and a privilege’
WHEN Oldham Council’s outgoing chief executive Charlie Parker, arrived in the borough for the first time five years ago, not many people knew who he was or why he was there.

And that was exactly what the 52 year old wanted: he spent the first few weeks in Oldham simply learning about the borough and its people.

“I used to walk around the town, listening to people and asking them what they thought about Oldham,” Mr Parker said.

“I had a drink in local pubs, swam in almost every pool in Oldham and went through all of the books at the council to get a better grasp of the situation the town was in.

“After I had a firm idea about the town and the council, I was able to hit the ground running and make changes when I officially started.”

Since he started in October, 2008, Oldham Council has changed almost beyond recognition and has been rewarded for its progress with national praise and prestigious awards. Oldham was named the Most Improved Council at the 2012 Local Government Chronicle Awards and took home gongs in Britain in Bloom competitions during Mr Parker’s tenure, while the long-awaited regeneration of the town, including the arrival of the Metrolink, is currently well under way.

His time at the council has seen the introduction of major innovative service improvements with an estimated £500 million of investment into the borough, all at the same time as finding budget savings of around £140 million.

Now, the town is set to change once again after Mr Parker announced his shock departure from the council in September last year to take up the chief executive post at Westminster City Council.

He will officially leave on Friday and current deputy chief executive Carolyn Wilkins will take on the role of interim chief executive until a permanent replacement is recruited.

“I haven’t really got one favourite memory of my time here, but there are several that I will remember for a long time,” he said.

“The recent independent peer review (in which Oldham Council was hailed as having a “remarkable transformation”) in December really summed up how I felt about my time here with the success in getting our finances back on track and the creation of discipline and organisation in the council.

“I’m particularly pleased with the increase in confidence in the council, both in terms of the staff’s confidence in what they can achieve and how members of the public perceive us.

“Members of the council are now proud to wear the council badges around the town centre and say who they work for, something they used to hide when I first arrived.”

But the journey hasn’t been all plain sailing and there has been some challenges along the way, most significantly getting the books in order during a period of economic downturn alongside coping with some of the more sceptical residents in the borough. The father-of-two said: “I don’t believe in regrets, but in hindsight, there are possibly a few things that I may have done differently and some things could have happened a bit sooner.

“Everyone says that I work at 100mph but I still think that we could have got some things through earlier.”

And is he going to be sad to leave Oldham and the place he’s worked in for the past five years?

“Of course I’m going to miss Oldham. I never really thought that I would have such an affinity for one place but it really is one of those towns that just pulls you in.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to work as Oldham Council’s chief executive and I hope that I’m leaving the council in a better state than when I arrived. I know that I couldn’t have given any more and I look forward to hearing about the town’s successes in the future.”