Bournemouth’s Wilkinson resigns following suspension

Bournemouth Borough Council’s executive director for finance has resigned, two weeks after it was announced that she had been suspended following complaints about her behaviour. Liz Wilkinson had been driving the authority’s creation of a community finance initiative (CFI) to lend to small businesses and first time buyers.

She joined Bournemouth after leaving her previous role as head of financial services and section 151 officer at neighbouring Borough of Poole Council in early 2012. A statement from the council to Room151 said: “We can confirm that the executive director for finance, Liz Wilkinson, has resigned from her position.
“The council’s service director for corporate and commercial, Ian Milner, will continue as acting executive director for finance in the interim.”

A previous statement from the council, released on 10 October, said that Wilkinson had been suspended “following complaints from a number of senior officers about the postholder’s behaviour”. An investigation had been launched into the allegations prior to this week’s resignation.

A council spokesman said that the CFI would remain unaffected by Wilkinson’s departure. The council committed to the initiative in July 2013 and is already using a £15m pot to lend to small businesses. The scheme was also extended to provide loans to first time buyers holding a minimum 5% deposit at a rate of 4.2% over a period of 10 to 30 years.

In June, in an interview with Room151, Wilkinson said that the council was seeking accreditation to gain a full banking license with from the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. She said that this would allow the council greater freedom to offer a wider product range and begin to offer savings products to residents. Wilkinson was paid £103,850 by the council in 2012-13.