A CONTROVERSIAL regeneration job, which pays upto Pounds 1,000 a day, has been handed to the former boss of a global pharmaceutical company.
Dr Catherine Raines, pictured below, former chairman of AstraZeneca's China Business Council, in Shanghai, has been appointed to spearhead North Staffordshire's Pounds 1.5 billion transformation programme.
She will pocket Pounds 24,000 a year for between two and four days' work a month as the new chairman of the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership.
The choice flies in the face of Stokeon-Trent City Council members, who had asked the partnership (NSRP) board to appoint a local politician to act as an unpaid chairman.
But regeneration leaders said the area needed "a big hitter pandora charms on a regional and national stage" able to squeeze value for money from the limited public sector cash available in future. Dr Raines, currently a non-executive director of the Land Registry, said: "I want to make a difference."
On taking the helm of one of the biggest regeneration projects in England, she said: "I am 100 per cent committed to seeing progress across the whole of North Staffordshire.
"I am only too aware regeneration is a long-term process requiring huge investment, commitment and excellent partnership working, but I believe my experience will help to accelerate that process."
replica clothingThe NSRP is made up of the four councils in the region, Advantage West Midlands and the Homes and Communities Agency, as well as public and private sector bodies.
It aims to transform the area in the next 20 years with schemes such as the Pounds 275 million East West Centre leisure and shopping complex in Hanley.
The appointment was criticised by councillor Peter Kent-Baguley, who said: "I am Chanel Replica Handbags appalled someone from outside has been given this job.
"I don't consider it satisfactory to have a so-called independent person from the world of business.
"What regeneration needs is strong political direction and that is best provided by the council leader.".
But NSRP board member Ian Dudson, chairman of Tunstall pottery group Dudson, said: "We need a big hitter to create confidence in North Staffordshire, bring in investment and build a better future."
NSRP managing director Tom Macartney said: "Catherine has the experience and determination to make our vision a reality."
Recruitment started last year after the previous chairman, elected mayor Mark Meredith, resigned after his arrest over unfounded political corruption allegations in March.
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