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Rochford District Council
Rochford District Council
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For Paul’s previous interview, CLICK HERE
For Part 2 of this Interview, CLICK HERE
For Part 3 of this Interview, CLICK HERE
For Paul’s previous interview, CLICK HERE
For Part 2 of this Interview, CLICK HERE
For Part 3 of this Interview, CLICK HERE
Talking to RDC’s Chief Executive, Paul Warren, prior to his retirement (Page 1 of 3)
(12th December 2013)
We originally interviewed Paul back in May 2011 when he graciously gave us an hour of his time to share insights into the Council. As Paul is now in his last month before retirement he agreed to share with us again and being an even longer interview you will find we range over the following subjects: (This page) Some thoughts about retirement, some thoughts about the Airport, (second page) achievements during his time here, communicating with the Community, changes that have taken place in his years here, (third page) what you get for your money from the Council and finally some advice for Amar as he takes over and for new councillors. We hope you find it as insightful as we did.
Thoughts on Retirement
Rochford Life: Paul, before we start, I was recently looking up the first interview we did in May 2011, and marvelled at how open and comprehensive it was, and just wanted to say thank you for that. But now, you are about to retire. Are you looking forward to that?
Paul: Very much so. I’ve now reached the stage where having taken the decision you’re almost looking forward, like having a new job and you’re looking forward as well as looking back.
RL: I read once someone saying you really need to start planning retirement back in your forties because it is such a big leap. I presume you haven’t had time to do that.
Paul: No, that’s right, but back when I took the job in 1998 I always thought, I want to go around sixty (and I was sixty in October), so I wanted to go on my terms before my sell-by date and I think I’ve managed to achieve that. I think one of the things I’m looking forward to is waking up and thinking I can choose what to do, bearing in mind, for the last I don’t know how many years, my life has been governed by diaries, meetings and commitments.
RL: How has the process of the handover been going? Are you now counting days?
Paul: I am counting days. Amar and I have been through quite a lengthy and, certainly in the outset, quite a formal process and I think it’s been useful for me and hopefully useful for him, to have that handover process because sometimes in jobs people coming in don’t have the opportunity to talk to their predecessor, so it’s been useful. At the same time it’s enabled me to try and close specific initiatives so we can make the handover as clean as possible, but as of today, Amar is the Chief Executive and I’m tidying up loose ends and will finally leave on the 31st December.
RL: What do you think you’ll miss going into retirement?
Paul: A couple of things. When you work in any organisation, inside it and outside it, you meet such a variety of people, and so I’ll miss all the communications and social interaction. I’ll also miss being Chief Executive. When I go home I have to take off my Chief Executive head, and so no doubt when I retire there will undoubtedly be times when I will find it frustrating that I cannot actually take a decision or have a view on something, and things like that. I suppose it will be the ‘waning of power’ thing, but at the same time it will be nice to become Paul Warren again and not the Chief Executive of the Council.
RL: You won’t become a Tony Blair type of consultant?
Paul: No, I hope not. It’s been interesting that since I announced my retirement I’ve had a number of job offers but I want to at least start my retirement as ‘retired’, not ‘I’ve got a new job’. As a youngster I used to do a bit of fishing, mainly sea fishing, but a few years ago I took up fly fishing so I may get a few more opportunities to get better at it. I’m quite a perfectionist so I’ll either get better at it or find something I can become better at. I’ve also always been quite competitive, so there’s always that streak of ‘can I always do better?’
RL: Life with the Council must have a measure of frustration about it. I am sure, having talked with so many people in Rochford, that 80 out of a 100 people in Rochford have little or no knowledge of the council. (despite Rochford Life’s endeavours!)
Paul: Yes, you’re probably right. I think that people only get engaged when there is a particular issue or particular problem or particular opportunity and they want to find out about it and they then come to the Council, although ‘the Council’ that they come to tends to be Rochford District Council rather than Essex County Council or even the Parish Council. They may go to the Parish Council but ‘the Council’ tends to be us.
Thoughts about the Airport
RL: Well ever since I started Rochford Life, one of its aims has been to draw the Council to the attention of the readers and say, the Council is here to help you, yet still it is obvious some people clearly don’t come to the Council with their queries. I believe the question of the airport has been one such thing that’s come to light more recently. A usual complaint is about falling house prices and some have blamed the Council. How do you feel about this?
Paul: I think you’ll find that most areas that have airports tend to find the prices go up and it’s often a generation thing, this worry. I come from the West Country and it is interesting to see the relative prosperity of two different areas. Plymouth and Exeter both have airports but the airport that has developed is Exeter, not Plymouth. Plymouth is in demise and being developed for other things and it always struck me that it was a missed opportunity because with the airport at Exeter (and there may be residents who think otherwise), it has actually brought benefits. There are a lot of businesses that wouldn’t be in that vicinity if the airport wasn’t there, whereas Plymouth on the other hand is struggling to get some businesses to locate there. We don’t want an airport that is enormous, that scales up too much and which causes environmental problems or infrastructure problems. Our airport has been there since the First World War really and so in some extent it is an asset we should use.
RL: I mostly hear positive noises about the airport.
Paul: I have told the story at business breakfasts, that when I arrived here in late 1993 as Director of Development, the interview process at that time was over two or three days and as part of that process I had to do a presentation around the future of the airport. It was an issue then, in one sense a conundrum and it was an asset. In the sixties they had Freddie Laker and they had something like 600,000 passengers (and I know they have more now) but in those days planes were quite noisy. Certainly in the early 1990’s when I arrived, for this Council it was a real conundrum: here’s an asset, is it going to develop and utilise its capacity or are we going to see it decline? You can’t be in limbo for ever and if it did decline what alternative use would you put there? That was always a particular issue. It’s been interesting to see over the years now, that we’ve manage to create a planning framework and within that framework Stobart have been able to invest money and create the airport in the way that it is now. I’ve talked with a lot of people and most people see it as an asset.
RL: Were the changes initiated by Stobart or by you?
Paul: Probably a mixture of both. Before Stobart secured an interest in the airport, we had already granted planning consent to the previous leaseholders for the station and new terminal. That was in the late 1990’s. It is interesting that it is called London-Southend airport, but the majority of the airport is actually in Rochford. The runway extension is actually in Southend and Southend are the freeholders; they own the asset. There was a planning framework in place and so Stobart, before they invested the money, needed that framework to give them confidence. When I arrived in 1993 we went through a limbo period for about 5-7 years, then there were some permissions, then despite the permissions nothing happened for a period and then Stobart came in and basically had the confidence to invest the money in developing it from there.
RL: Is there a growth in employment?
Paul: Well there is IPECO who, although not airport dependant, are investing and are a good news story, and there other employers, and of course the airport itself is employing more.
RL: Do you feel you’ve had a part to play in its success?
Paul: Well without the framework being in place and without the council taking certain decisions, that wouldn’t have happened and we were in the right place at the right time. Having provided the right framework the investment came in.
RL: Were the initial permissions to make the airport work or to make the airport work so that it would create industry round about it?
Paul: It was both I think. If you look around the country, wherever you have airports that are doing reasonably well they in themselves create employment around them. They attract companies to them, not just servicing aircraft or serving the airlines, but also other companies come in because they need to be in proximity to the airport. The intention was always to resolve the future of the airport, one way or another, and if possible to provide a framework to provide a viable local regional airport. It was never seen as more than a regional facility and never will be.
Thoughts on Retirement
Rochford Life: Paul, before we start, I was recently looking up the first interview we did in May 2011, and marvelled at how open and comprehensive it was, and just wanted to say thank you for that. But now, you are about to retire. Are you looking forward to that?
Paul: Very much so. I’ve now reached the stage where having taken the decision you’re almost looking forward, like having a new job and you’re looking forward as well as looking back.
RL: I read once someone saying you really need to start planning retirement back in your forties because it is such a big leap. I presume you haven’t had time to do that.
Paul: No, that’s right, but back when I took the job in 1998 I always thought, I want to go around sixty (and I was sixty in October), so I wanted to go on my terms before my sell-
RL: How has the process of the handover been going? Are you now counting days?
Paul: I am counting days. Amar and I have been through quite a lengthy and, certainly in the outset, quite a formal process and I think it’s been useful for me and hopefully useful for him, to have that handover process because sometimes in jobs people coming in don’t have the opportunity to talk to their predecessor, so it’s been useful. At the same time it’s enabled me to try and close specific initiatives so we can make the handover as clean as possible, but as of today, Amar is the Chief Executive and I’m tidying up loose ends and will finally leave on the 31st December.
RL: What do you think you’ll miss going into retirement?
Paul: A couple of things. When you work in any organisation, inside it and outside it, you meet such a variety of people, and so I’ll miss all the communications and social interaction. I’ll also miss being Chief Executive. When I go home I have to take off my Chief Executive head, and so no doubt when I retire there will undoubtedly be times when I will find it frustrating that I cannot actually take a decision or have a view on something, and things like that. I suppose it will be the ‘waning of power’ thing, but at the same time it will be nice to become Paul Warren again and not the Chief Executive of the Council.
RL: You won’t become a Tony Blair type of consultant?
Paul: No, I hope not. It’s been interesting that since I announced my retirement I’ve had a number of job offers but I want to at least start my retirement as ‘retired’, not ‘I’ve got a new job’. As a youngster I used to do a bit of fishing, mainly sea fishing, but a few years ago I took up fly fishing so I may get a few more opportunities to get better at it. I’m quite a perfectionist so I’ll either get better at it or find something I can become better at. I’ve also always been quite competitive, so there’s always that streak of ‘can I always do better?’
RL: Life with the Council must have a measure of frustration about it. I am sure, having talked with so many people in Rochford, that 80 out of a 100 people in Rochford have little or no knowledge of the council. (despite Rochford Life’s endeavours!)
Paul: Yes, you’re probably right. I think that people only get engaged when there is a particular issue or particular problem or particular opportunity and they want to find out about it and they then come to the Council, although ‘the Council’ that they come to tends to be Rochford District Council rather than Essex County Council or even the Parish Council. They may go to the Parish Council but ‘the Council’ tends to be us.
Thoughts about the Airport
RL: Well ever since I started Rochford Life, one of its aims has been to draw the Council to the attention of the readers and say, the Council is here to help you, yet still it is obvious some people clearly don’t come to the Council with their queries. I believe the question of the airport has been one such thing that’s come to light more recently. A usual complaint is about falling house prices and some have blamed the Council. How do you feel about this?
Paul: I think you’ll find that most areas that have airports tend to find the prices go up and it’s often a generation thing, this worry. I come from the West Country and it is interesting to see the relative prosperity of two different areas. Plymouth and Exeter both have airports but the airport that has developed is Exeter, not Plymouth. Plymouth is in demise and being developed for other things and it always struck me that it was a missed opportunity because with the airport at Exeter (and there may be residents who think otherwise), it has actually brought benefits. There are a lot of businesses that wouldn’t be in that vicinity if the airport wasn’t there, whereas Plymouth on the other hand is struggling to get some businesses to locate there. We don’t want an airport that is enormous, that scales up too much and which causes environmental problems or infrastructure problems. Our airport has been there since the First World War really and so in some extent it is an asset we should use.
RL: I mostly hear positive noises about the airport.
Paul: I have told the story at business breakfasts, that when I arrived here in late 1993 as Director of Development, the interview process at that time was over two or three days and as part of that process I had to do a presentation around the future of the airport. It was an issue then, in one sense a conundrum and it was an asset. In the sixties they had Freddie Laker and they had something like 600,000 passengers (and I know they have more now) but in those days planes were quite noisy. Certainly in the early 1990’s when I arrived, for this Council it was a real conundrum: here’s an asset, is it going to develop and utilise its capacity or are we going to see it decline? You can’t be in limbo for ever and if it did decline what alternative use would you put there? That was always a particular issue. It’s been interesting to see over the years now, that we’ve manage to create a planning framework and within that framework Stobart have been able to invest money and create the airport in the way that it is now. I’ve talked with a lot of people and most people see it as an asset.
RL: Were the changes initiated by Stobart or by you?
Paul: Probably a mixture of both. Before Stobart secured an interest in the airport, we had already granted planning consent to the previous leaseholders for the station and new terminal. That was in the late 1990’s. It is interesting that it is called London-
RL: Is there a growth in employment?
Paul: Well there is IPECO who, although not airport dependant, are investing and are a good news story, and there other employers, and of course the airport itself is employing more.
RL: Do you feel you’ve had a part to play in its success?
Paul: Well without the framework being in place and without the council taking certain decisions, that wouldn’t have happened and we were in the right place at the right time. Having provided the right framework the investment came in.
RL: Were the initial permissions to make the airport work or to make the airport work so that it would create industry round about it?
Paul: It was both I think. If you look around the country, wherever you have airports that are doing reasonably well they in themselves create employment around them. They attract companies to them, not just servicing aircraft or serving the airlines, but also other companies come in because they need to be in proximity to the airport. The intention was always to resolve the future of the airport, one way or another, and if possible to provide a framework to provide a viable local regional airport. It was never seen as more than a regional facility and never will be.
