A MELDREW MOMENT....

I hope you will forgive me, but I read something today that made me think, "I don`t believe it." Deep in the tranquil backwaters of Hertfordshire, there is an area which includes places like Rickamnsworth, Chorleywood and Sarratt, the latter being featured by guest appearances in John Le Carre`s spy novels. The district council which administers the area and the 86,000 people who dwell therein goes by the name of Three Rivers District Council after the rivers which flow through the area - the Chess, the Gade and the Colne.

The council has as its Chief Executive one Dr. Steven Halls who is paid £116,000 a year despite reducing his working week from five days to four, so he can `improve his work/life balance` and so that he can `indulge in his love of music` and other interests, including his work as a magistrate. Dr. Halls lives as far away as Nottingham, from where he commutes each working day to the Three Rivers offices in Rickmansworth - a round trip of close on 150 miles.

Now, I hesitate to pass any judgement here simply because I have only read the reports and confess to knowing nothing about the good Doctor and even less about Three Rivers and its seemingly peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, not-much-happening way of life. But there are a couple of general principles that may seem not quite right here.

The first is that it must surely be right for the chief executive of any local authority to live at least close enough to his/her area of responsibility so as to be able to respond quickly in times of crisis or disaster. But more to the point, whatever happened to the old fashioned management notion of leading by example? I have long held the view that the head of any organisation should lead it in a way that inspires confidence and commitment in others and I would imagine that would be hard to do unless one was fully and demonstrably committed to the cause oneself.

Dr. Halls` deal was reportedly prompted by fears that, after five years in the job at Three Rivers, he might be tempted to find work closer to his home. Quite unfairly, I just wonder whether those fears are expressed rather more forcibly by the good citizens of Nottingham than the council tax payers of Three Rivers. But then, I don`t believe it, do I?.