SANDWELL Council has appointed its new £147,532 a year chief executive – after only person applied for the job.

Councillors backed the the choice of David Stevens to become the authority’s ultimate boss at a full meeting of the council last night (Tuesday).

Mr Stevens has been acting up in the role for the past five months after the ex-chief executive, Jan Britton, resigned in June last year.

Prior to that he was an executive director for Adult Social Care Health and Wellbeing.

His appointment was questioned by councillor Caroline White, who asked why an assurance given in July that the job would be advertised nationally via an executive recruitment agency had not been kept.

In a statement released following his appointment, Council Leader Yvonne Davies said having a permanent chief executive was key to the council’s stability and future improvement.

“David was in the interim Chief Executive post for five months, doing an excellent job and providing real stability for the council.

“It is essential that David continues the work he has started to put the council on a stable footing and address some of the challenging historical issues that the council has been dealing with. We feel David is the best person to do this job.

“David’s appointment was made unanimously by the panel subject to it being ratified at full council.”

Saying it was initially intended to go through an external recruitment exercise for the role after specialist HR advice and ensuring due process was followed, the council decided to advertise the post internally.

A report to the full council showed that Mr Stevens was the only candidate to put his name forward.

Cllr Davies added: “A lengthy recruitment process would have taken up valuable time and resources and would be an unnecessary distraction for the council.

“Therefore, we decided to advertise the position internally, opening it up to senior officers and we went through the proper process with a full member panel holding interviews.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Stevens said: “I’m extremely proud to work for Sandwell Council and look forward to working closely with the Leader, the Cabinet and all staff in delivering our big plans for Sandwell and its residents.”