BURY Council has announced a new interim chief executive after Mike Kelly revealed he will retire in March.

Mike Owen, who is currently the council's executive director of resource and regulation, will take over for a six-month period before a permanent successor is appointed.

Mr Owen has been at the authority since 1986, originally as deputy group accountant.

It is his second spell at Bury Council, after a one year stint at Oldham Council in 1999 where he was deputy treasurer.

He returned as chief financial services officer, before working his way to become one of the council's most senior officers.

He previously worked for the NHS in the North West Regional Authority in 1979 as a finance trainee, before joining Trafford Council in 1984.

Mr Owen, aged 53, was appointed after a meeting of the council’s human resources and appeals panel.

He said: “It is a huge honour to be appointed as interim chief executive.

"We face a huge number of challenges in Bury, not least of which is the need to find a further £16 million in cuts from our budget, but I will be doing my very best to make sure that Bury remains a great place in which to live, work and study.

"I also want to pay tribute to Mike Kelly who has done an outstanding job as chief executive and I wish him the very best for his retirement."

Cllr Mike Connolly, leader of Bury Council, added: "I’m sure Mike will do a fantastic job as interim chief executive and look forward to working closely with him in the months to come."

In addition to his council role, Mr Owen is the current president of the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy, the world's leading public sector finance organisation.

Councillors were set to discuss a motion tabled by Bury's Conservative group about the future of the chief executive role last night at Bury Town Hall.

The motion called on the Labour-controlled council to either: share the role with a neighbouring authority such as Bolton; scrap the role and delegate responsibilities to other senior officials; or re-appoint a chief executive with a reduced salary.