New chief executive braced for 'challenging' year

The new chief executive of Leeds City Council has warned the city is facing one of its "most challenging years" financially for "a long time".

Ed Whiting was appointed in January after Tom Riordan stepped down following 14 years at the helm.

Four months into the role he said the council needed to "live within our means" and faced "tough choices" as it looks to save almost £104m by the end of 2025/26.

Despite the challenge he said he was "excited" about the opportunities ahead and said the chance to be a part of "what comes next for the city was "amazing".

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Whiting said notwithstanding the financial difficulties faced by the council he believed there was "light at the end of the tunnel" for local authorities.

He said he was hopeful that the government's Spending Review in June would deliver a multi-year settlement for the council.

While he said it would not "dramatically transform the amount of money we can spent as a council" it would provide stability.

Born at St James in Leeds, Mr Whiting grew up in Roundhay and went to Leeds Grammar School.

He said his mum was a music teacher who taught at schools across the city.

He said she would come home and talk about her "250 other children" at various schools, so he grew up feeling like it was a city he knew.

Before joining the council he worked for a number of Civil Service departments, including the Financial Stability Unit of HM Treasury druing the 2008-09 financial crisis, and as Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the prime minister between 2014 and 2016.

Most recently he was the Director of Cities and Local Growth in the Department for Business and Trade and Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

In 2016 he was awarded an OBE for services to public service and No. 10 Downing Street.

Despite the challenges facing the city Mr Whiting also sees big opportunities for the city.

As chief executive he wants any economic growth "to touch every neighbourhood in the city and want it to fund the services the city needs".

He highlighted sectors such as retail, financial technology and medical technology as key to growing the economy.

He said, in particular, the way "new innovators can work with the NHS in Leeds is the envy of other places".

Away from the town hall Mr Whiting has been fostering a child with his partner, David, which he said had given him first-hand experience of the services a local authority provides.

"[We] have been working with social workers every day and thinking about how we can provide the best home for this little one," he said.

"So our lives at home have been intertwined with local authorities, intertwined with the sort of services that we provide from Leeds and that for me has given me a sense of the difference that can make.

"That sense of what local authority services mean for real people in critical moments of their lives."

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