Senior officers to leave Sandwell Council in restructure

Sandwell Council merged four senior roles into three in September

Two senior officers will leave Sandwell Council under a management restructure to save £130,000 a year.

The authority's ruling cabinet approved a plan to merge four roles into three in September.

Former director of improvement and efficiency, Melanie Dudley, has been made assistant chief executive.

Neeraj Sharma, former director of legal and governance, will become director of governance and risk. The third post will be recruited externally.

Neither the previous deputy chief executive, John Garrett, nor former director of strategic resources, Stuart Kellas, have been appointed to the one new remaining director role for human resources and finance.

Jan Britton, council chief executive, said "some difficult decisions had to be made" and the authority "would move to external recruitment for this vacant post".