Why David Atkinson is retiring

YORK has elected a hung council, two of the three main parties have untried new leaders, and politicians of all colours are squabbling (sorry, negotiating) about who will hold power.

It seems an odd time for an experienced chief executive to be retiring. Does he have any doubts about his timing?

David Atkinson smiles in a guarded, lawyerly way. "There are pangs of regret that I'm leaving now," he says. "It is an exciting time to be chief executive."

Exciting not only because of the finely-balanced political situation, he stresses - although that does make life more interesting - but also because York stands on the threshold of so many new developments and opportunities.

There is Hungate, York Central, the British Sugar site. The university is poised for expansion, and major new developments at Germany Beck and Derwenthorpe have been given the go-ahead.

Then there is Piccadilly, Terry's, Nestlé, and the search for a new stadium for York City, not to mention the city council's proposed move to a new multi-million pound HQ. He will miss out on all of that.

David Atkinson is not yet 60, and by his own admission remains full of vim and vigour. So is there any chance that he will do a Sir Alex Ferguson, and change his mind?

No, he insists. In some ways, it is an "awful time" for a chief executive to be leaving. But he had decided some time ago that he would go after the election, and go he will. "It is best to go now than get tired. It will mean the new administration can get their own person."

Besides, he says, his two grown-up daughters, who both live in London, are expecting him to take an exotic holiday to celebrate his retirement.

"They will deign to join me on it, provided it is expensive enough and far away enough." He couldn't possibly disappoint them.

So York's top bureaucrat will leave at the end of July. That, he says, will give the new administration time to find its feet.

Quite what shape that new administration will take remains unclear. Leaders of the Lib Dem, Labour, Tory and Green parties are still thrashing out how the hung council will operate.

There are pros and cons to having a situation were no one party is in overall control, Mr Atkinson says.

On the negative side, a hung council tends to slow down decision-making, because whoever is nominally leader always has to find someone else to support decisions. But more consensus is needed in decision-making, which is maybe good for democracy.

What the ordinary man on the street in York definitely won't want to see is lots of party political bickering, Mr Atkinson says.

So is he confident York's elected politicians will agree on a workable leadership?

"I'm an optimist! I think the parties can work together. The party leaders that have been chosen are pragmatic. They are capable of working together and will, all of them, put the good of York before party advantage."

Maybe. But there are already signs that ambitious new councillors will want to make their mark, and not necessarily by remaining quiet and malleable.

Fishergate's new Green councillor Dave Taylor, for example, has already blasted what he calls the council's "culture of secrecy", citing as an example the decision to keep the media out of the recent election count.

Mr Atkinson holds his hand up to that one. It was his call, he says, and not a political decision. He is prepared to admit that "perhaps I made the wrong decision in the heat of the moment", but it certainly wasn't to do with secrecy, he says.

What secrets could possibly have been kept by preventing journalists interviewing candidates while the count was ongoing?

The decision was taken for practical reasons. It was the first time all York votes had been counted in the same place, and in the small space available he didn't want anything to delay the count.

"But I'm more than happy to ask for that decision to be reviewed for the future," he says.

As for the general charge of a culture of secrecy, he insists it is simply not true. "I'm not a secretive individual," he says.

In general, the council tries to keep to a minimum the private elements of council reports that can then only be debated behind closed doors. Most council debates are held in the open.

Yes, but it is also true, isn't it, that in the past members of the council's ruling executive had usually made their minds up on important issues before they were debated in public?

We all know about the discussions in smoke-filled rooms that precede committee meetings, Mr Atkinson admits. But that has always been the way politics works. And it is not true to say that politicians' minds are always made up before issues are debated.

"I have seen sufficient examples of people amending their decisions at the executive meeting," he says.

An example was in the debate on the future of Arc Light. He saw council leader Steve Galloway's notes, and knows he had not reached a decision before the future of the homeless centre was debated in public.

For a man who admits he prefers to work behind the scenes rather than in the full glare of publicity, York's outgoing top official is surprisingly, and refreshingly, frank.

He is candid, too, about another controversial episode in the council's recent past.

The six-and-a-half years since he became the city council's chief executive in December 2000 have been mixed. In many ways, York's economy is booming. The growth of the city's science and finance sectors has brought well paid white-collar jobs, while tourism continues to thrive.

But that has to be balanced against the virtual collapse of what remained of York's traditional manufacturing base.

Last year proved particularly bad, with major job losses at British Sugar (100 jobs), Nestlé (645 jobs) and Norwich Union (450 jobs). None of those job losses were the fault of the council, but managing the transition from a blue-collar to white-collar local economy has not been easy.

Over that period, two council decisions made me - and many others - genuinely angry, I tell him: Coppergate and the Barbican.

He will not be drawn on the sale of the Barbican and the loss of a city-centre swimming pool. It was a controversial issue, he says, and whatever their personal feelings, officers had to respect the decision taken by politicians.

On the Coppergate fiasco, however, he is much more forthcoming.

The decision to back a controversial scheme for a new shopping complex next to Clifford's Tower, and then to spend £220,000 supporting that decision at a public inquiry only to get a very public slap in the face from a Government planning inspector, was "not the council's finest hour," he admits dryly.

Sometimes it is important for a local authority to take a position on an issue and fight for it. But with hindsight, he says, it is "magnificently clear that we should have thought things through better".

The council had split the city, caused a great deal of ill feeling, and then after all that lost, he says. "I'm not proud of my role in that."

The impression given, I say, was that the council was dazzled by £1 signs. Not so, he says.

"I think what drove us was that there was this big development site which has, frankly, been an eyesore for some time."

There were developers who wanted to develop, he says, and the council was keen not to lose out on an opportunity to revive an area badly in need of redevelopment.

But the lessons of Coppergate have been learned, Mr Atkinson says.

"We are determined not to go through another Coppergate, not to have another very costly, very time-consuming, very divisive public inquiry. I don't know what we are going to come up with, but there will be a lot of effort and consultation at an early stage. We will not be rushing anything through which we think has not got sufficient support."

David Atkinson on:

Derwenthorpe...

THE controversy over the planned 540-home model estate at Osbaldwick is not comparable to the row over Copper-gate, Mr Atkinson says. The case for Derwenthorpe is much stronger, and it has been backed by a planning inspector.

York is desperately in need of affordable homes. "To have Joseph Rowntree wanting to have a housing development and to give us the sort of housing this city needs is a prize," he says.

Pavement café curfew...

MR Atkinson is known to be in favour of pavement cafés, and attempts to bring a more Continental feel to York. So why did his council slap an 8pm curfew on pavement cafés in the city centre?

It was a decision taken by elected members not officials, he points out - and one that will be reviewed after six months.

University expansion...

HE can understand the concerns of local people who live near the proposed Heslington East expansion, Mr Atkinson says. He remembers listening to the testimony of a farmer's wife who made a "very poignant presentation" about the way in which her family's livelihood would be affected.

"But having a top university wanting to expand in York, with the impetus that gives to an economy based on knowledge, that is an overwhelmingly valuable prize for this city."

Being like Sir Humphrey...

WHO holds the real power on the city council - the chief executive, or the elected council leader? In short, is Mr Atkinson a kind of local Sir Humphrey, pulling the politicians' strings from behind the scenes?

No, he says. The balance of power between chief executive and council leader often depends on personalities. But while he thoroughly enjoyed Yes Minister, he doesn't see himself as a Sir Humphrey. It is his job to advise elected politicians, and tell them what options are available. But executive power is legally invested in them.

Many less important decisions can be delegated to council officials, but it is up to elected politicians to make the major policy decisions.

Whether he agrees with those decisions or not, it is his job to respect them - provided they are lawful.