He is the new boy at City Hall but Chief Executive Ian Stewart is already proving to be a man of the people. Already, the former professional footballer has set himself some demanding goals as head of an authority which is the fourth largest metropolitan Council in the country.

He wants to transform Bradford's image, provide better services and regenerate the city, while keeping a tight hold on the purse strings.

But the £101,000-a-year chief officer has already seen something he likes. He says the Council's front-line staff, such as those in benefits at Britannia House, are "magnificent".

And he has already amazed some of the more senior officers by saying he wants them to have fun in their jobs.

Mr Stewart, 52, who played professional football in his native Scotland before becoming a full-time civil servant, has made it clear he wants to be a grass-roots chief executive in touch with rank-and-file staff and community issues. He has been out and about with his front-line staff and talking to the people who matter - the Council taxpayers. He said: "A community group isn't going to be impressed with 40 pages of reports. They want to know how their elderly parents will be cared for and how the education service will help their child to get to university and what skills they will get. They want results for what they pay.''

He believes the people of Bradford matter, and they are the ones who know what they need. The Council's community plan is the best example he has ever seen of public consultation.

And he promises that over the next few months he will be looking first hand at all the Council front-line services.

He has already watched the benefits staff at Britannia House who do their difficult jobs face to face and without screens. He has seen elderly people being helped and watched staff dealing with people who are disturbed.

He says: "With staff like that and a community like we have got, it would be disappointing if we didn't make progress.''

Mr Stewart starts his new job with three targets:

Better services for the community;

Changes in the way people perceive Bradford. When he told people he was going to work in the city they said: "Why on earth are you going there?"

The regeneration of Bradford - making it an area where people want to live and work.

Mr Stewart comes to the job with an unprecedented background. From 1967 to 1990 he combined his highly successful career in the Department of Social Security with a parallel career, playing and managing professional football in Scotland, including spells with Dundee and Greenock Morton.

He puts his success down to the fact that he enjoyed what he was doing, was never bored and thrived on challenges.

He also brings enthusiasm and energy and the confidence which has immediately enabled him to break the mould of top officers shut away in their ivory towers.

On the district's jobs front, Mr Stewart wants a mix of businesses within the district's boundaries - catering for a growing and highly diverse workforce.

He has no fears for his role in a modernised Bradford Council and says it is time to break out of 1960s timewarp.

Most of all, he believes the people of Bradford should go out as ambassadors to destroy the image created by critics who have often never even visited the place.

T&A Opinion

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