A new chief executive of the Isle of Wight Council has been appointed — and it is a familiar face.
Agreed at tonight’s (Wednesday) full council meeting, Wendy Perera was appointed as the new chief executive.
Ms Perera has been acting as interim chief executive since April this year after John Metcalfe left the authority to join Cumbria County Council.
Under Mr Metcalfe, Ms Perera acted as deputy chief executive since 2018 and was director of corporate strategy.
Ms Perera has worked in the Isle of Wight Council for much of her career, including roles in the planning departments and was part of the team who developed the Island Core Strategy, the council’s former planning framework.
Ms Perera will also be head of paid services and be on an annual salary of £138,038 — more than £2,000 more than Mr Metcalfe’s former salary.
The appointment was approved by the majority of Isle of Wight councillors, with one abstention (Cllr Michael Lilley) and one against (Cllr Dave Adams).
A total of 21 candidates put themselves forward to fill the position, which was whittled down to eight by the council’s appointments and employment committee earlier this month.
Isle of Wight Council leader, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox said they were extremely good and high-quality applicants, who responded to an internal advertising campaign that saved the authority nearly £18,000.
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said she hoped some of the unsuccessful candidates came back to do other jobs within the authority.
Interviews happened with councillors and various stakeholders before the preferred applicant (Ms Perera) was chosen.
Councillors were given a confidential appendix for tonight’s meeting, naming Ms Perera, but in public documents, the preferred candidate was known as ‘Candidate X’.
Ms Perera has to accept the offer from the Isle of Wight Council before she is officially appointed but questioning the restriction, Cllr Geoff Brodie said in previous rounds of recruitment the candidate has been named.
He said it was very strange and questioned the reason why the candidate was not named, saying everyone knew who it was, before naming Ms Perera.
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