HAVING overseen an economic recovery that culminated in Burnley being named Britain’s most enterprising town last summer, Steve Rumbelow is a man in demand.

The soon-to-be former Burnley Council chief executive has had a hand in projects including the completion of Burnley Bridge Business Park, the impending opening of the Todmorden Curve, and the ongoing transformation of the Weavers’ Triangle.

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His sterling work in East Lancashire during his eight-year tenure has not gone unnoticed in Greater Manchester, where he will take over at Rochdale Council in the New Year.

The 53-year-old's track record in regeneration, in particular, has seen his stock rocket in the eight years since he left Manchester City Council's housing department.

“We've been able to create a comeback economy through the teeth of the recession, which bodes well for Burnley going forward.

"In these jobs, all you can hope for is to make a positive difference, and I believe I have done that."

Burnley, Mr Rumbelow says, had “lost its economic mojo” when he took over, but is confident a growth in job numbers, plus increas-ing investment in education and training, means the borough has the momentum to succeed going forward.

“We decided we wanted to make advanced manu-facturing the centrepiece, surrounded by skills deve-lopment and a focus on infrastructure and creating space for businesses to grow.

“It wasn't easy. People said manufacturing was gone, but UK plc needs to make and export stuff. It was a brave decision by the council, but it has been vindicated."

Mr Rumbelow is keen to stress that it hasn't been an easy ride for the authority, with frustrations over multiple delays to the Todmorden Curve rail link to Manchester evident.

And, working as part of a two-tier system with Lancashire County Council – who Mr Rumbelow stresses he has a 'good working relationship' with – is something the Yorkshire-man will be glad to see the back of.

“It’s better to have the levers to pull yourself,” he smiles. “But I’ve enjoyed the scale of it.”

Burnley Council, he estimates, is one-quarter of the size of his old housing department in Manchester.

Would a larger East Lancashire unitary auth-ority work better?

“I think local government structure does need looking at. If you were designing local government, you would not design it with two tiers.”

Mr Rumbelow counts the laboured progress at the multi-million park Know-ledge Park and council redundancies among the low points of his spell in charge.

“We've taken about 25 per cent of our staff out in my time here, which is a regret. We wanted to look at ways of doing things differently but were forced into a position because of austerity measures imposed by Government.”

Overall, Mr Rumbelow believes Burnley’s fortunes really are on the up.