EX-COUNCIL CHIEF'S CLAIMS SPARK FRESH CONTROVERSY IN CITY
29 May 2006
The former top boss at Swansea Council is continuing to cause controversy almost six months after quitting his £120,000-a-year post. Tim Thorogood (pictured) walked away from the post in January with a pay-off worth £60,000 after councillors agreed to investigate a breach of planning rules at his Rhossili home.
He has now angered local councillors after describing the authority as failing.
Mr Thorogood is set to join London-based thinktank the Local Government Information Unit this summer and has given a number of interviews to London-based magazines.
In one he claimed that the planning breaches at his home amounted to nothing more than a few extra windows.Planning officers at Swansea Council viewed the garage and found he had added a kitchen without permission.
It was also discovered that his wife was looking into the possibility of advertising the garage as a holiday home on Swansea Council's tourism website.
Councillors are understood to be angry that he has told the Municipal Journal that he was recruited by a failing authority.
When he arrived in 2003 the council was officially classed as a middle-ranking authority.
Despite the fact that Swansea was not a failing authority Mr Thorogood told the Municipal Journal: "The remit I had at Swansea was to turn a failing organisation into one which was successful.
"My other task was to revitalise regeneration of the city."
Councillors are also unhappy about claims in the article that one of Mr Thorogood's achievements while in Swansea was the Liberty Stadium, despite the fact that work on the ground began two years before he took on his role.
When he left the post, he negotiated a generous package and is understood to have agreed a deal with the council to not discuss the matter in public.
One Swansea councillor, who didn't want to be identified, said: "There are a lot of people unhappy with his comments regarding Swansea in recent interviews.
"Apparently some top-level Swansea council officers have written letters to the magazines expressing their disappointment."
The former top boss at Swansea Council is continuing to cause controversy almost six months after quitting his £120,000-a-year post. Tim Thorogood (pictured) walked away from the post in January with a pay-off worth £60,000 after councillors agreed to investigate a breach of planning rules at his Rhossili home.
He has now angered local councillors after describing the authority as failing.
Mr Thorogood is set to join London-based thinktank the Local Government Information Unit this summer and has given a number of interviews to London-based magazines.
In one he claimed that the planning breaches at his home amounted to nothing more than a few extra windows.Planning officers at Swansea Council viewed the garage and found he had added a kitchen without permission.
It was also discovered that his wife was looking into the possibility of advertising the garage as a holiday home on Swansea Council's tourism website.
Councillors are understood to be angry that he has told the Municipal Journal that he was recruited by a failing authority.
When he arrived in 2003 the council was officially classed as a middle-ranking authority.
Despite the fact that Swansea was not a failing authority Mr Thorogood told the Municipal Journal: "The remit I had at Swansea was to turn a failing organisation into one which was successful.
"My other task was to revitalise regeneration of the city."
Councillors are also unhappy about claims in the article that one of Mr Thorogood's achievements while in Swansea was the Liberty Stadium, despite the fact that work on the ground began two years before he took on his role.
When he left the post, he negotiated a generous package and is understood to have agreed a deal with the council to not discuss the matter in public.
One Swansea councillor, who didn't want to be identified, said: "There are a lot of people unhappy with his comments regarding Swansea in recent interviews.
"Apparently some top-level Swansea council officers have written letters to the magazines expressing their disappointment."
posted by Commentator at 11:00 AM
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