EIGHT days into her reign as new CEO of Thurrock Council, the borough's leading public servant has yet to show her face to the public.

Mrs Debbie West took up her position, which comes with a salary of around £250,000 according to the council's salary scale, last Monday – taking over from Dr David Smith who left his role as Chief Executive and Managing Director Commissioner to take over a similar position at Slough.

Mrs Ward has kept a low profile since her arrival, though today (Wednesday, 16 September) she is due to give two briefings to staff in meetings at the Thameside Theatre in Grays.

Speculation arose within the civic offices over recent days that she had not been in Thurrock for her first week. She did send a 'round-robin' message to staff early in the week but it may be that she remained in her ancestral role in Dorset for her first week.

Mrs Ward is a former CEO of Dorset Council, serving from 2012 until 2018. During her career in local government, she has managed extensive portfolios that included housing, social care, and community safety. She stepped down in 2018 with a redundancy package of around £400,000 just before the council was abolished and restructured into unitary authorities.

In the interim she has held a number of senior roles within the Local Government Association.

Mrs Ward, who celebrates her 65^th birthday next month, lives in Dorset, the county that has been her family's home for three generations and appears set to remain living in the county, presumably making the journey between home and work of around 150 miles each way on a regular basis.

She is one of the King's representatives in Dorset, serving as one of the county's many Deputy Lieutenants. Among her colleagues are actor Martin Clunes and broadcaster and journalist Kate Adie.

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Thurrock Nub News asked the council if Mrs Ward intended to move to Thurrock, if she had in fact been in the offices at all last week and if she intended to continue her role as a Deputy Lieutenant. Her other roles in Dorset include being a trustee for a number of charities with a focus on young people & mental health, dementia, and learning disabilities. Among those roles she is a trustee and advocate for People First Dorset.

The council declined to answer, saying it was a personal matter, and would not even comment on whether or not she had been in the civic offices at all in her first week in office. The council also declined to give a telephone number, email or any other contact details so we could have asked her about those 'personal' matters directly.