City council set to name McArthur as Director of Legal and Governance

Councillors at Peterborough City Council will this week (20 March) be asked to appoint Neil McArthur to the role of Director of Legal and Governance at a Full Council meeting.

McArthur, who is due to take up the role on 1 June, will replace Adesuwa Omoregie, who has held the role in an interim capacity since last September.

He will act as Peterborough’s statutory Monitoring Officer. The role also oversees the operation of the council's constitution and leads its Legal, Elections, Information Governance, Complaints and Democratic services teams.

McArthur said: “I am delighted to be appointed as Peterborough City Council’s new Director of Legal and Governance. I am looking forward to joining the team and to working with colleagues to build on all the progress that has been made as we meet the challenges ahead.”

McArthur qualified as a solicitor in 1997 and has held a variety of legal and senior leadership roles in local authorities and other public sector organisations.

Over the past three years, he has been undertaking interim assignments. He is currently the Interim Director of Commercial and Procurement at Nottingham City Council and prior to that was the Interim Head of Legal and Governance, and deputy monitoring officer, at Winchester City Council.

He also worked in interim leadership roles in the legal teams at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Birmingham City Council.

McArthur spent 12 years as the General Counsel of the Gambling Commission and three years as its Chief Executive.

“Over the course of his career, he has gained expertise across a wide variety of different areas of law, as well as experience of leading teams and major projects and change programmes,” Peterborough City Council said.

Matthew Gladstone, the local authority's chief executive, said: “I am delighted to recommend to councillors that we appoint Neil and I look forward to working with him.

“The experience he brings with him of working with councils through periods of change will be incredibly useful as we continue on our improvement journey to transform the way we work and how we provide services.

“I would also like to pay tribute to Adesuwa Omoregie who has done a fantastic job leading our Legal and Governance services in the past six months.”

Cllr Mohammed Farooq, Leader of the city council, said: “This role is one of the most important for any council, supporting officers and councillors to navigate many complex areas of the law.

“Neil’s extensive experience and achievements gives me confidence that he will quickly become a valuable part of our leadership team and will be a key player in the delivery of our priorities and ambitions for the city’s residents.”

Councillors will be asked to confirm the appointment at a meeting of Full Council taking place on Wednesday 20 March 2024.

Members of the council’s Employment Committee agreed to McArthur’s appointment at a meeting held on 11 March 2024.