BURY'S top education officer is leaving on the eve of a major shake-up of senior council posts.

Mr Graham Talbot, acting chief education officer since the retirement of Mr John Beech last year, will take over as director of education at Halton, a new unitary authority in Cheshire.

And it is the challenge of starting from scratch which appeals to Mr Talbot.

"It is very rare to get an opportunity to start something like this completely from the start," he said. "You usually end up inheriting somebody else's policies and staff."

Halton will cover Widnes and Runcorn when it officially becomes a unitary authority in April next year. Schools there are currently run by Cheshire County Council.

Mr Talbot will take over in September, and will guide education policy and staffing in the "shadow" authority as it prepares to take control.

He has been in Bury since 1991, and has seen some of the most difficult years in local educational history, culminating in cuts to school budgets this financial year.

"I have enjoyed my time in Bury despite having some very difficult times," he said. "I will be going with many fond memories."

He said he always appreciated the support of colleagues, schools and the community education service during his time here.

Mr Talbot's post of chief education officer will be swallowed up in the restructuring of Bury Council, which will see services divided between four giant "superdepartments".

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