‘I have been forced to speak out in defence of Nicola Yates’

When I handed over responsibility for running the city to the newly elected mayor, Marvin Rees, I made it very clear that he would get nothing but good will from me, because my heart is in Bristol and I want the city to succeed. I was confident that he could rely on a strong leadership team headed by Nicola Yates, in stark contrast with the relative management vacuum that I inherited in 2012.

So whilst I was surprised and saddened to read of Nicola’s departure from Bristol City Council some weeks ago, I felt it was not my place to comment. I was in any case not privy to the circumstances around her departure, nor any financial arrangements that might have been agreed.

However the grossly unfair criticism that has recently been levelled at Nicola Yates, one of the most competent senior local authority officers in the country, has forced me speak up in support.

Senior officers are politically restricted and there to serve the leader or mayor, of any political party or none. For their role to be politicised in any way is a fundamental breach of this protocol – and yet that is exactly what one councillor has done, by publicly sharing confidential financial arrangements agreed as part of Nicola Yates’ exit, it seems for no better purpose than to score cheap political points.

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Read more: Rees says ‘secret’ pay-off was transparent

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The fact is that Nicola is nationally recognised as being an excellent chief executive – something the Local Government Association, Bristol’s party group leaders, members of my Cabinet and leaders of other cities have often remarked on. For over three years she worked tirelessly to turn around the management of the City Council in order to deliver my mayoral agenda, and the substantial savings required to mitigate cuts in the city’s funding from central government. 

We worked as a strong team and were entrepreneurial in our approach – which is why we set up new companies, like Bristol Waste and Bristol Energy, to generate income for the city. In many of these cases, the appropriate governance structure was for senior officers to become directors of these companies – but they were not paid any extra salary for these roles, and it is grossly unfair to imply otherwise. 

More than that, when Nicola was recruited, her salary of £160,000 was £30,000 less than the previous chief executive was paid, because I wanted to bring the ratio of the lowest to the highest paid council staff members down from 1:15 to closer to 1:10 following the establishment of a Living Wage for the lowest paid staff. She also helpfully showed her commitment to the local economy by taking £8,000 of her annual salary in our complementary currency of Bristol Pounds.

It is true she was paid additional sums to act as the returning officer on two occasions, as are all returning officers around the country who take on this additional responsibility and she spent many extra hours carrying out this duty. She ran three elections at once in 2016 with calmness and efficiency. The irony is that she took these roles on reluctantly only because the city was lacking an experienced returning officer, and absolutely not because she wanted the additional work or income. 

As for the time she spent supporting Bristol’s year as European Green Capital – she was paid £1,000 a month for 18 months (the same amount the interim CEO replacement is paid daily!). This arrangement was put in place on the advice of the City Council’s lawyers, in order to ensure clear distinction between her two roles, and represented the best possible value for the Bristol 2015 company. 

For my part, I can only thank Nicola for her relentless energy, expertise and devotion to Bristol. I deeply regret that not all of Bristol’s politicians have respected those efforts, although I know those who worked closely with her do recognise her remarkable qualities.

George Ferguson was mayor of Bristol from 2012 to 2016

Read more: ‘Rees supports transparency – but only when it suits him’