Bristol City Council city director Nicola Yates OBE is to leave the job at the end of this month, it was announced today.
Ms Yates, pictured, has held the top role at the council – which has a £160,000 a year salary – for just over three years.
She was appointed six months after George Ferguson became Bristol’s first elected mayor. She had previously worked as chief executive at North Shropshire Council and Hill City Council.
No information on Mr Yates’ plans was given by Bristol City Council today.
The council said she has helped the city adapt to running services under an elected mayor, made challenging savings whilst maintaining front-line services and overseen the introduction of council-owned companies supplying domestic energy and delivering waste services.
She was paid £18,000 for being chief executive of Bristol 2015 Ltd, the company that delivered last year’s Green Capital, in addition to her salary as council chief executive.
Ms Yates said: “It has been an absolute privilege to serve the city during the past three years and I leave with a huge sense of pride in what has been achieved during that period, both within the local authority and for the citizens of Bristol.
“During my tenure, the council has faced an immensely challenging financial position but I have been dedicated to maintaining frontline services and developing new ways of generating income and expanding our growth sectors for the future.
“These new ways of doing things, from entering the energy market to pioneering digital infrastructure, are gaining national and international attention which I hope will benefit the city for many years to come. I am also enormously proud of the contribution I was able to make to Bristol’s successful year as European Green Capital, in my role as chief executive of Bristol 2015 Ltd.
“I have been fortunate to work alongside some very talented and dedicated colleagues both in the council and across a range of partnerships as we established a mayoral governance model for cities – and I wish all of them well for the future.”
The council said it would be making interim arrangements while it recruits for a permanent post holder over the coming months.
Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees added: “I am grateful for Nicola’s contributions to Bristol and wish her well for the future. She has brought the council a long way in a relatively short time, leaving it with strong governance and a high profile at home and abroad.
“It is very important that we continue doing our best for Bristol and the council will be making interim arrangements while we recruit on a permanent basis.”
Ms Yates was awarded the OBE in 2010 for services to local government. She is paid £5,000 of her council salary in Bristol Pounds.
