John van de Laarschott

AUDIO WITH JVDL & BRIAN WARD NOW ONLINE! The Cabinet of Stoke-on-Trent City Council today accepted Chief Executive John van de Laarschott's recommendation to cease work towards the Strategic Partnership The partnership would have seen to transferal of up to 900 council staff to a private company that would have been situated in the proposed new Business District in Hanley.

Pits n Pots can today confirm that Stoke-on-Trent City Council plans to switch up to 800 jobs to the proposed Central Business District in Hanley have been scrapped. The City Council had proposed to switch the jobs to a private company. The preferred bidders were Balfour Beatty Workplace/BT Global Solutions and Serco who are still fighting for the contract. The jobs would have included members of the Human Resources, CCTV maintenance, IT and Administration departments.

Staffordshire Police have today confirmed that they are investigating the procurement process and in particular the tenders for demolition contracts. In a statement Staffordshire Police said: Quote:We can confirm that Staffordshire Police is carrying out enquiries into a number of complaints linked to tendering processes for demolition work. We are working very closely with the Chief Executive of the City Council in this matter. On behalf of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Chief Executive, John van

Here is the latest offering in our 'In Conversation' pieces. Today we managed to catch half an hour out of a very busy day in the life of Stoke-on-Trent's new Chief Executive John Van de Laarschott. As you will be aware if you read this site, I have been very impressed with John.

One of the most interesting topics on Thursday's full council meeting was the motion tabled By Cllr Dave Conway. The motion had called for the following: “That this Council resolves that an inquiry be established into the conduct of the internal investigation of the proposed closure of the splash pool at Dimensions Leisure Centre, Burslem, with the following remit: ·Ensuring that all elected members have been, and will in future be, treated fairly and properly in relation to this and similar ma

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is working with Staffordshire Police to return the city centre to normal after the English Defence League rally on Saturday 23 January. Councillor Brian Ward, Deputy Leader of the city council, said: “We are unhappy that the demonstration took place and at the significant disruption to local businesses and to people who wished to spend the day in the city centre.

By Tony Walley & Mike Rawlins The elected members of Stoke-n-Trent City Council, sitting in this afternoons full council meeting have voted unanimously  to appoint John van de Laarschot as Chief Executive.  The motion was proposed by Paul Shotton Chair of the HR Committee and seconded by Council Leader Ross Irving. Paul Shotton paid a warm tribute to Chris Harman saying his professionalism and enthusiasm were his best attributes during a difficult time for our City.