IPSWICH: The new top management team at the borough is due to be unveiled next month after a major shake-up.

A new chief operating officer has been appointed from outside the borough and is due to start work at the start of November – when new heads of service are due to start in their new positions after the shake up.

Helen Pluck has run her own business for the last three years, but before that was a senior council official in Stockton on Tees in the north east and with the government’s Audit Commission.

She will work under borough chief executive Russell Williams in a new structure that will replace the current borough directors.

Mr Williams said: “I have been in regular contact with Helen since her interview and she is very much looking forward to joining us.

“I am really pleased that she will be starting with us in November. This means she will be in post at about the same time as the start dates for the new Heads of Service and Operations Manager roles.

“This is likely to mean that the vast majority of the new corporate management structure will be in place by early November.”

The changes were revealed in the Star in June. In what is a major shake-up of the most senior jobs at the authority, 25 posts are being swept away and 18 new ones created.

The move should save the authority �500,000 a year and council leader David Ellesmere said so far the changes had all gone smoothly.

He said: “There have been some departures, but these have all been voluntary. There have been no compulsory redundancies so far. All the changes should be in place soon and we will be able to go forward with the new structure.”

Are the changes good for the borough? Write to Your Letters, Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail starletters@archant.co.uk