Dudley Council 'Golden Triangle' to lose a member days after crunch budget vote

Although yet to be officially confirmed, sources inside Dudley Council say Brendan Arnold, the current interim chief finance officer, will leave his role at the end of February.

The top finance job, referred to as the section 151 officer, is one of the three most important executive roles in local government along with the senior legal officer and chief executive – the three jobs are called ‘The Golden Triangle’.

If Mr Arnold leaves when expected, his own Linkedin social media account says he is ‘presently on assignment until late February 2025’, he will be going just days after a crunch meeting when councillors could have approved savings of £42m for the next financial year.

Dudley’s leader, Conservative Cllr Patrick Harley, said: “The Interim 151 officer is as it states – “interim “.

“During that time he has spent with us we have worked to increase reserves by £30m over next five years, balanced the budget not just for this year but until 2030 and introduced guiding principles for revenue and capital budget setting.

“Therefore, the hard work to ensure all this progress is not wasted and lost will need to be completed by the individual departments, directors, and cabinet members.

“The hard work for the 151 officer is complete and now the operational part of the budget becomes the work of the rest of the council.”

All of Dudley’s golden triangle jobs are currently held by interim officers; a situation which worries the Labour opposition.

Dudley’s Labour group leader, Cllr Pete Lowe, said: “It’s not very golden if there is nobody there to find the gold at the end.

“The Labour group has become increasingly concerned about the use of interims in Dudley when we are unsure of their commitment to Dudley.

“The most important thing is to ensure we have got a dedicated workforce who are committed to work with all the communities in Dudley and with all the officers to ensure we get through the financial mess we find ourselves in.”