THE chief executive at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is in line to be reappointed next year as borough bosses look to abandon plans for a shake-up in the management structure.

On Monday, the council's personnel committee is likely to recommend to the full council that Gordon Holdcroft (pictured) be reappointed to the £110,000-a-year post of chief executive when his two-year contract expires in August next year.

If, as is expected, the full council gives its approval, discussions about his terms of service will then proceed.

After the departure of the previous chief executive - Katrine Sporle - the council spent £30,000 on headhunters' fees, but none of the external candidates for the job was thought to be up to the mark.

Mr Holdcroft, formerly the council's deputy chief executive and director of community services, was appointed on a two-year contract in July 2003 after a six-month hiatus following the departure of Mrs Sporle. The stated aim then was to move to a "strategic management board" by September 2005.

Council leader Cllr Brian Gurden admitted to The Gazette that the reappointment of Mr Holdcroft would mean scrapping plans for a big change in the shape of management.

These would have seen the abolition of the chief executive's post and the creation of a "strategic management board" of four corporate directors with the leader of the council and the deputy leader.

Cllr Gurden explained: "There were expressions of concern from the business community, voluntary bodies and some members of this council, about the perception of this organisation without a single individual at the head of the professional side."

Cllr Gurden said that since the council had achieved its official "excellent" rating it was felt appropriate to continue with the current set-up, which is what he recommended to the personnel committee.

He said Mr Holdcroft had been "exemplary" and he said his own preference would be for the current chief executive to be appointed on a permanent basis.

Cllr Gurden said the council already effectively uses an informal strategic management board and would continue to do so. He added that not formalising this approach would avoid tying the hands of any future administration.

The move to reappoint Mr Holdcroft has come as Basingstoke MP Andrew Hunter issued a warning that the borough council must, on no account, be run by a management board.

Mr Hunter said: "Nothing could be more disastrous than a board. You must have one person at the head. I could not emphasise sufficiently that it would be totally wrong otherwise. No company I have heard of with the turnover of the size of Basingstoke council's would dream of not having someone in the driving seat."

Mr Hunter said the borough may have to accommodate 80,000 more people if the Government's housing targets are fulfilled in the next 15 years. Business people were also telling him they faced growing problems in finding staff and paying salaries to meet the local cost of living.

He added: "When I talk to councillors, I sometimes wonder if the enormity of the changes happening to Basingstoke over the next 10 or 15 years has been fully appreciated.

"I think some people have had the sense that the council has not had the same sense of direction and purpose in recent years."