New infrastructure chief quit last post suddenly

THE SIC’S new executive director of infrastructure is a former senior official at the City of Edinburgh Council who earlier this year announced he was taking early retirement before leaving suddenly.

Gordon Greenhill, 52, retired in August under the “rule of 85”, whereby an employee can bow out once their age and their number of years’ service exceeds 85 years.

But having told staff that he was retiring, Mr Greenhill left his post as head of community safety within 24 hours.

It is normal practice for senior officials to work out a period of around three months’ notice, prompting speculation at the time that he had been told to take early retirement by senior directors.

A spokeswoman for the council in Edinburgh refuted those claims and said that Mr Greenhill had retired of his own free will, leaving at short notice because he had a period of annual leave coming up.

“Basically, Gordon became eligible for this rule of 85 and he decided to take early retirement and he had some annual leave coming up, there wasn’t any more to it,” she said.

Mr Greenhill replaces the SIC’s executive director of infrastructure Graham Spall, who himself took early retirement in September.

SIC convener Sandy Cluness said: “Mr Greenhill was one of a number of excellent candidates, which made our final decision a very difficult one. However, the selection panel chose Mr Greenhill as someone who could lead this very important area of the council’s activities in a period of rapid change and financial restraint.”

Mr Greenhill worked for Edinburgh city council for around 34 years and was environmental health manager before taking up his most recent post, which gave him responsibility for antisocial behaviour, environmental health and trading standards.