WITH Torfaen council’s chief executive set to retire at the end of March, the proposed timeline for appointing her successor has been set out.

Alison Ward has served as Torfaen council’s chief executive for 16 years and will retire on March 31, leaving the county borough council three months to find a replacement.

Ms Ward’s retirement was announced at the end of 2020 after 18 years at the council.

Outlining plans for her replacement, a report proposes that some of the early stages of the appointment could be conducted online on the Microsoft Teams platform, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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The report says: “Whilst it is hoped that there will be a sufficient easing of the pandemic restrictions to allow for some face-to-face activities to take place during the recruitment process, it is anticipated that at least some of the early activities will need to be conducted remotely via Teams.”

If the timetabling is approved, then there would be an application deadline of February 1.

This would be followed by a preliminary interview with a long list of candidates on February 15.

A shortlist will be invited for a series of assessments including psychometric profiling and stakeholder panel interviews on March 8.

A final decision could be made on March 16 with shortlisted candidates presented to full council for interview.

The proposed timetable of the appointment will be considered by full council on Tuesday, January 26.