Welcome from the Director of Place
Dear Applicant,
Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the role of Managing Director for East Devon District Council’s new Local Authority Trading Company.
Thank you for showing your interest in joining us as we build something special for the residents of East Devon.
After ten successful years, the Council’s partnership with Suez UK Ltd is coming to a natural end. This partnership has seen East Devon enjoy some of the best performance in recycling and waste nationally. We are proud of the innovative way we deliver our award winning services
Starting from this high base, new arrangements must be put in place to manage recycling and waste collection services to ensure continuity from July 2026. The council has chosen to set up its own local authority trading company (LATCo) to deliver services as this gives the greatest opportunity to be cost effective, to maintain excellent service, and to be responsive to the many challenges faced.
We are seeking a Managing Director, who will lead the process of setting up this new company, giving it strategic direction and purpose. This is a rare opportunity to build something special, and to use all your skills and experience to make it great.
We have given lots of thought to what great looks like, and we have high ambitions for this new company and what it can achieve. We are looking for a leader who shares our values and objectives, someone who will bring visionary thinking and will build a sustainable business which is aligned with the Council’s purpose.
We already have a small team who are building the foundations of this new company and will support you in the months before go-live, planning and delivering every aspect of this new organisation. Once it is operational, we hope that it can quickly demonstrate its value, pushing the area forward to achieve even greater heights in terms of service delivery. You will not be bored.
Thank you again for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you and good luck.
Andy Wood
Director of Place
Managing Director
Salary: Up to £120,000 per annum
Leaders like you don’t just join companies, they build them
About Us
East Devon District Council is creating a brand-new Local Authority Trading Company (LATCo) to manage and deliver recycling and waste services across the district. This is a bold and exciting move, one that puts local people, sustainability, and innovation at the heart of service delivery. In time, the LATCo is also expected to expand, taking on the Council’s StreetScene Operations service and carefully selected commercial services with clear environmental benefits, such as commercial recycling.
We are proud to be one of the UK’s leading councils on recycling and environmental performance, consistently achieving high recycling rates and working towards ambitious carbon reduction goals. By establishing our own LATCo, we are taking control of how services are delivered, ensuring they are not only efficient and financially sustainable but also deeply aligned with the values of the communities we serve.
This is more than just a recycling and waste service. It’s about building an organisation with purpose, one that combines the best of public service ethos with the agility and commercial mindset of a modern company.
About the Role
We are looking for an outstanding Managing Director to shape, lead and grow this new company from the ground up. Reporting to the Board of Directors and working closely with East Devon District Council, you will be responsible for setting the strategic direction, inspiring a new workforce culture, and delivering services that meet high expectations for quality, value and sustainability.
This is a role that requires breadth and depth. You will be expected to provide clear strategic leadership, building a long-term business plan that aligns with the council’s vision and wider environmental ambitions. At the same time, you will need to oversee day-to-day operations, ensuring that recycling and waste services are delivered effectively, contracts are met in full, and customers experience services that are reliable, efficient and continually improving.
Financial resilience will be at the heart of your work. You will be responsible for developing and implementing commercial and financial strategies that keep the company strong, sustainable and able to grow. As Managing Director, you will ensure the highest standards of governance, accountability and compliance, with particular focus on health and safety, environmental performance and risk management.
Just as importantly, you will act as the figurehead for the company, building strong relationships with staff, trade unions, suppliers, council officers and members, and the wider community. You will represent the organisation regionally and nationally, developing partnerships and enhancing our reputation as a trusted service provider, a valued employer and a forward-thinking business. This is not only about overseeing today’s services but about positioning the company for future growth, which calls for strong commercial thinking, partnership working and, just as importantly, the personal qualities that engender trust and collaboration.
This is a unique opportunity to combine the entrepreneurial challenge of building a new company with the responsibility of safeguarding public interest.
About You
We are looking for a strategic, inspiring and commercially astute leader who shares our passion for excellent public services and sustainable growth. You will bring a strong track record of senior leadership in local government services or equivalent large-scale operations, together with experience of managing recycling, waste or other high-risk operational services where health and safety and environmental compliance are paramount. Alongside public sector and governance experience, we are equally keen to see evidence of commercial and private sector acumen, leading a company, driving growth, creating income streams and operating with a genuine growth mindset.
You will have a proven ability to deliver service transformation and improvement, using data, technology and innovation to drive efficiency and customer satisfaction. Alongside this, you will bring commercial and financial expertise, with experience of managing multi-million-pound budgets and developing long-term strategies that secure financial resilience.
Equally important will be your leadership style. You will be someone who leads with empathy, integrity and inclusion, able to inspire confidence in staff and create a culture that motivates, empowers and values people. Political awareness will also be vital, as you navigate complex environments and build trust with a wide range of stakeholders.
Above all, you will be resilient, adaptable and excited by the challenge of building something new. With strong communication skills and a values-led approach, you will inspire trust and help establish this new LATCo as a respected, high-performing organisation from day one.
This isn’t just another leadership job. It’s the chance to create, shape and grow a company that will make a lasting impact on services, communities and the environment.
Role Closes: Midnight Wednesday 24th of September 2025
Our Mission and Purpose
This page sets out the proposed governance and purpose arrangements for the development of the LATCo. As the organisation is not yet established, the availability of detailed information is limited. Nonetheless, the proposals outlined here aim to provide a foundational framework to support informed decision-making as the LATCo progresses toward formation.
1. Purpose
To safeguard the wellbeing of people and businesses, improve the environment and promote prosperity through the flexible and efficient delivery of environmental services.
2. Values
The company’s values will underpin its activities and should lead to success. Some proposed values are outlined below, however it is important for the company management team to have input into these, ensuring ownership. Therefore, these values will be discussed with the Portfolio Holder Group (PHG) to get initial feedback and will be developed further when the Managing Director and management team are in place.
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Impact: Environmental improvement
Behaviours: Collaboration
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Impact: Community benefit
Behaviours: Innovation
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Impact: Staff development
Behaviours: Teamwork
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Impact: Diversity
Behaviours: Teamwork
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Behaviours: Embrace Change
3. Strategic Objectives
To deliver services for the Council, striving for efficiency and continuous improvement
To deliver value for money, achieving the shareholder’s financial objectives
To pursue commercial strategies which provide a return for shareholders and an environmental dividend
To provide high quality employment and skills development for local people, and provides local economic benefit
To support local economic development and contribute local value
To reduce the direct environmental impact of operations and to improve indirect environmental impacts of households and businesses in the area
To provide an efficient and effective business model which can be expanded to new services, and adopted by near neighbours and future unitary authorities.
To operate in ways which support EDDCs wider missions and values
To plan and deliver services which are aligned with changing local needs and national waste policy
Company Structure
A company limited by shares is to be created on behalf of the Council.
A Company group structure will not be pursued in the short term, this can be reviewed in future years if commercial activities become significant.
Council’s Place Directorate, under the Assistant Director for Streetscene with a retained post acting as Client Contract Manager and liaising closely with the MD to monitor company performance and service direction.
The staffing structure will be based on the existing roles operated by Suez, with additional specialist staff to reflect the needs of operating the company at arm’s length from the Council. This will include functions for HR, financial management, health and safety and procurement.
The company will operate its own Finance, Accountancy and Procurement function. There will also be a Finance Director.
A Finance Director will be appointed as a paid member of staff, however this will only need to be a part time role which focuses on financial strategy, governance, legal compliance and acts as the Company Secretary. The Board of Directors is proposed to be:
Independent Non-Executive Chair
Independent Non-Executive Director x 2
Latco Managing Director
Latco Finance Director
Governance Structure
Effective control over the company is achieved through a range of governance, management and control activities which are applied both at a high strategic level and at a day-to-day low level. There must be a ’golden thread’ all the way from Council Constitution and Shareholder Agreement through to the day-to-day monitoring activities by the council’s contract management function.
The LATCo will be managed and operated as a separate organisation which is legally independent of the council and is free, within limits, to make its own decisions. A key purpose of governance is to establish these limits, along with providing it with strategic direction, monitoring performance and ensuring compliance with Teckal exemption. The Council takes on dual roles of owner and contracting party, which roles are to be clearly articulated in the shareholders agreement and waste services agreement.
Accountable to:
Council Shareholder Committee
Overview and Scrutiny Committees
Company Board of Directors
Recycling & Waste Partnership Board
Greater detail available in the document provided.
Financial Governance
Proposed annual budgeting process
It is proposed that payments to the LATCo will be controlled through a process of the LATCo proposing an operating budget, which is scrutinised and accepted. The company then aims to operate within budget throughout the year and reports any over or underspends, including a full year forecast. The company will need to propose mitigation and rectification plans for any overspends during the operating year. At the end of year, overspends will be declared as losses and a decision can be made about how to fund these.
It should be noted that commercial trading activities should result in profits which could offset any losses, but also has the potential to operate at a loss, worsening the LATCO’s financial position.
Some operating costs are difficult to forecast and may be subject to separate arrangements.