‘Putting residents first’, emphasises new leader – but..

In his first public communication as the leader of the Harrow council, councillor Paul Osborn informs about forthcoming benefits for the residents and the senior manager changes at the civic centre.
The Council Tax Energy rebate (£150 energy payment to eligible Harrow council taxpayers) would be issued soon.
There’s also a reminder about Free School Meals (FSM) during the upcoming half-term for eligible pupils, where schools will receive £15 per eligible child to access Free School Meals (FSM) during half-term.
Management changes include: Patrick (Pat) Flaherty has been selected as Harrow council’s chief executive. He will replace Sean Harriss, who leaves next month.
‘Pat will join us in the autumn from Somerset County Council, where he has worked as Chief Executive for eight years’ informs Cllr Osborn.
Cllr Osborn also informs that Paul Hewitt, corporate director of people services, will serve as interim chief executive to ensure a smooth transition.
All sounds well but as the emphasis is on ‘putting residents first’, one wonders about the rational, management structure and the mechanics to deliver ‘residents first’!
The rational would become apparent from a public report on whether ‘residents first’ has been mapped across the work of the council, which could then inform a fully costed programme to implement ‘residents first’.
Mr Flaherty is coming from Somerset County Council (population White British 94.6%, Asian background 0.2%, Indian background 0.1%, Pakistani 0%) to Harrow (further to census 2011, projected population Indian 29.1%, other Asians 12.1%, Pakistani 3.9%).
Hope he would be able to adjust quick/well to look after Harrow’s diverse population and their different but equally important needs, as well as working with a highly diverse member population.
The other concern is that the practices at the corporate directorate of people services led to the perception that Harrow council distances relevant officers from the community, which resulted in a vote losing factor for the last administration.
Hopefully the acting chief executive would appreciate that residents access to the council officers and efficient response to residents queries etc, go a long way to build  confidence in the council administration.
Harrow has a history of acting chief executives moving on once the substantial is in the office!