RECENLY elected district council leader, Councillor Roger Hollingworth, has announced the names of his new cabinet.

The former six-strong, powerful cabinet committee, which oversees all aspects of council business and which has the power to resolve matters, will increase to seven with four members remaining and three new members joining. There will be a much stronger focus on performance management and scrutiny.

Cllr Hollingworth (Con-Alvechurch), who took on the leadership role when Cllr Dennis Norton resigned, said: "Good performance is key to good quality services and we are putting extra resources into addressing how well we perform and how we can further improve that performance.

"We will also question more effectively the robustness of the decisions we make."

"Cabinet members now have portfolios that are better aligned to the new management structure so that there is a direct relationship between councillors and officers in order to ensure that the council provides the services that the public wants."

The new cabinet is Cllr Hollingworth - finance (as before), Cllr June Griffiths - culture and community (formerly leisure), Cllr Peter Whittaker - planning and environment (formerly community services and strategic housing), Cllr Caroline Spencer - human resources and legal and democratic services, Cllr Diane Campbell - revenues and benefits, Cllr Margaret Sherrey - street scene and waste management and Cllr Rita Taylor, the former deputy leader - recovery and strategic partnerships.

Cllr Holingworth has opted to scrap the deputy role.

Cllor Bill Newnes, who was originally elected as a Labour councillor for Sidemoor before becoming an Independent and earlier this year a Conservative, has been appointed lead member on E-governance and communication.

Cllor Brian Fuller, formerly cabinet member for environmental health, will reorganise the performance management, audit and scrutiny regimes in order to ensure the authority delivers its promises in an efficient and cost effective manner.