Breadcrumbs
Countryside Agency appoints Chief Executive - 18th July 2005
Countryside Agency Chairman and Rural Advocate Stuart Burgess said: “The Countryside Agency is facing a period of great change over the coming year. As our new chief executive, Graham will bring a great deal of experience to the Countryside Agency in the run up to October 2006 and the establishment of Natural England and the Commission for Rural Communities. His broad background in the public sector and elsewhere is highly relevant for our work.”
Graham Garbutt added: "This is a period of real opportunity as we create new agencies and refocus policy, and as broader changes offer new perspectives on old challenges. I very much look forward to working with colleagues inside and outside the Agency in the months ahead."
Ends
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. Biographical details
Graham Garbutt was appointed Regional Director of Government Office for the West Midlands in 2001. He has been actively involved in producing integrated strategies for the region covering most areas of policy, achieved through strong regional partnerships.
Other work priorities have included the foot and mouth crisis and rural recovery; developing the Government Office as it has grown to work on behalf of almost all central departments; focussing European programmes to improve delivery; close work with the RDA to build capacity in the region; setting up and chairing the Regional Housing Board to bring together regional interests and recommend future funding to Ministers; improving local government performance; and developing the effectiveness of projects in priority neighbourhoods. Recent priorities have included Local Area Agreements, the MG Rover recovery programme and regional resilience.
Previously chief executive of Gloucester City Council, Graham has also held a number of senior appointments in London local government. He has worked as a consultant in Africa and lectured at postgraduate level. His academic background includes a first class degree in architecture and a master’s in town and regional planning. His wife is a hospital consultant and clinical director. They have three school-age children and live in Gloucestershire.
2. Margaret Clark has been Acting Chief Executive for the Countryside Agency since January 2005 following the departure of former Chief Executive, Richard Wakeford.
3. As the result of Defra’s Rural Strategy (July 2004) and the subsequent Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill, from April 2005 the Countryside Agency established distinctive new divisions:
- Commission for Rural Communities – to act as a rural advocate, expert adviser and independent watchdog with a particular focus on disadvantage, to become an independent body in October 2006 and
- Landscape, Access and Recreation division – which aims to help everyone respect, protect and enjoy the countryside by protecting natural landscapes; and encouraging access to an enjoyment of the countryside and sustainable land management. It is working with English Nature and Defra’s Rural Development Service towards integration as a single body: Natural England, also from October 2006.
4. The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill has successfully completed its Committee Stage in the House of Commons and is awaiting Report Stage and Third Reading before passing to the House of Lords.
Further information is available from Sue Bennett, Head of Corporate Support, on 0207 932 5808 or mobile 07900 608203.
