ONE of Bournemouth’s top council officers has resigned after just six months in the job.

Manjeet Gill was known as the town’s “director of transformation,” although her official job title was interim executive director for business improvement.

She was appointed in April on a four-day-a week, £80,000-a- year contract which was intended to last for one year.

But yesterday it was confirmed that she had handed in her notice and will leave her position at the end of the month.

She had been leading the Shaping Success project, which is looking to outsource the work of four council departments.

She said: “I have taken the Shaping Success programme a significant degree closer to the achievement of up to £7.2 million of savings for Bournemouth.

“I have been proud to lead the incremental partnership process and negotiations so far, and am confident that my involvement has put Bournemouth in the strongest possible position for the competitive dialogue phase.

“I have every confidence that my remaining colleagues will continue to drive through the changes they have instigated to make Bournemouth as efficient as it can possibly be.”

The chief executive and two executive directors will now carry the project forward.

It is not known whether she will be directly replaced but a council statement did say that the Shaping Success team would be strengthened further in the future.

But some opposition councillors are publicly questioning whether the council is taking the right approach to making savings.

Lib Dem councillor Roger West said the council had wasted two-and-a-half years going down the wrong path.

“As far as I’m concerned, the big savings any council can make is to carry out a root and branch reorganisation of its management structure,” he said.

“In my opinion the chief executive and her senior team have failed in this task.

“All they have done is put pressure on frontline staff and, as a consequence, staff morale is at an all-time low.”

He added: “I’m extremely concerned about the money that has been spent on consultants for this awful outsourcing process.

“That money would have been better spent on making internal improvements.”