Belford’s here to stay

SHETLAND Islands Council’s temporary finance manager Jonathan Belford is moving to the islands to join the authority on a permanent basis.

Belford has managed the SIC’s finances on a day to day basis for the past 18 months as part of a partnership arrangement with Aberdeen City Council, where had worked for 17 years as corporate accounting manager.

Belford had been working under Steve Whyte who was acting as senior financial officer for both authorities.

The new executive manager said that he had enjoyed his time working in Shetland so much that he had decided to set up home here with his wife Frieda, while their daughter continues her education at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University.

“The past year or so working and living here in Shetland has been a fabulous experience and one that I wanted to continue, so I am delighted to be given the opportunity to take on this role,” said Belford, who will earn more than £70,000 per year.

“Shetland, the place and its people, the council staff and councillors made the decision to apply more straightforward than I had expected and I now look forward to working with the council and the corporate management team to help them to continue to deliver excellent local authority services in challenging times.”

SIC leader Gary Robinson said he was “extremely pleased” Belford had been recruited.

“He has already proven his worth in the work he has done since joining us back in 2014.

“This is a particularly challenging role, given the continuing pressures on public finance, and the need to maintain high quality services for our community.”

Belford joined the council after the departure of James Gray who managed a major overhaul of SIC finances following a series of scathing reports from local government watchdog Audit Scotland.

Gray was brought in by former chief executive Alistair Buchan in early 2012 from accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers following a two day public hearing before the Accounts Commission.

Since then the council’s finances have received a clean bill of health, despite the ever increasing restraint on budgets.