Wigan chief executive to retire

The chief executive of Wigan Council, Donna Hall CBE, has announced she is to retire next year after eight years at the helm.

Ms Hall joined Wigan in 2011 initially as deputy chief executive before taking on the top role six months later.

During her time at the local authority, she has won national acclaim with bold reforms and the forging of ‘The Deal’ partnership model of local government.

She has also been a leading national voice in local government and has played a key role as part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

‘The last eight years have been the best of my working life,’ said Ms Hall.

‘I have really loved working with all 5,000 of our hard-working, compassionate, amazing staff who have all pulled together despite the cuts to deliver the best possible services for our residents,’ she added.

‘It is a really difficult decision to make to choose to retire because I have loved Wigan so much but I feel the time is right for a new chief executive to continue the brilliant work we have done over the years through The Deal.’

She joined Wigan from Chorley Council where she was chief executive and also previously worked in Blackburn with Darwen Council and Salford Council.

She was adopted as a child and was instilled with a strong sense of public service by her adoptive parents.

Her passion for adoption, fostering and the future prospects of children in care have also been driving factors throughout her career.

She was awarded a CBE for services to local government in 2010.

Ms Hall spoke to New Start last year about The Deal programme, which she said had ‘fundamentally transformed our relationship with residents’.

The leader of Wigan Council, Cllr David Molyneux, said: ‘Donna has given incredible service to Wigan over the past eight years and we certainly wouldn’t be the council we are today without Donna serving as chief executive.

‘On behalf of the council, all councillors, staff and the people of the borough I would like to place on record our gratitude to Donna for what has been a remarkable eight years in Wigan.’