17 - Chief Executive, Andrew Sparke to retire

Archived news release from 2008

Andrew Sparke, Chief Executive of Dudley Council, is retiring at the end of October.  He has been Chief Executive since February 1999.

 

He is going to pursue his extended roles with national government including the Preventing Violent Extremism Taskforce and the Youth At Risk charity.

 

 

“I have had a fantastic 10 years at Dudley Council and am delighted to have taken it from a fair two star authority to an excellent four star council, regarded by the Audit Commission as one of the best in the country.

 

“However local government is changing and now is a great time for me to move on to fresh challenges and for somebody else to take the council onwards.

 

“I will miss Dudley greatly and will look back proudly at what I have achieved.  I want to thank elected members, council staff and our partners for their dedication, hard work and support.”

 

 

“Under Andrew’s leadership the council has made tremendous progress.  He has chaired one of the most successful Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships in the UK and delivered major service improvements across the board.  Our children’s, adults, housing and environmental services are now second to none in the region.

 

“On top of this he has driven a number of innovative projects forward.  These include the award winning Ballet Hoo at the Birmingham Hippodrome that featured local young people dancing alongside members from the Birmingham Royal Ballet and featured on Channel 4 in 2006.

 

“Andrew will be an extremely hard act to follow and I wish him well in the future.”