Redcar and Cleveland Council chief Amanda Skelton retires

A Teesside council chief who helped create 2,000 jobs is to retire after 11 years in the post.

Redcar and Cleveland Council chief executive Amanda Skelton, who was paid about £150,000 a year, will step down later this year.

Mrs Skelton was made a CBE in the New Year's Honours List in 2018 for services to Redcar and Tees Valley.

She said she had loved the "challenges" of the job and it had been an "honour to work with great people".

A council statement said: "Amanda's clear vision, focusing on regeneration and service excellence, has led to notable improvements in Redcar and Cleveland."

In 2015 the government asked Mrs Skelton to chair an SSI Task Force following the closure of SSI's Redcar Steelworks.

The council said the task force helped create 2,000 new jobs and provided training for thousands of former SSI workers.

It also said Mrs Skelton helped set up the Tees Valley Combined Authority and negotiated the devolution deal which led to the £588m Tees Valley Investment Plan.

Mrs Skelton said: "I have loved the challenges of the job but most of all, it has been an honour to work with such great people.

"I would like to thank the Redcar and Cleveland team and everyone who has supported me over the past 11 years."

Labour MP for Redcar, Anna Turley, said she had been a "first-rate chief executive, leading our authority through challenging times including coping with severe central government funding cuts and the steelworks closure whilst still driving the borough forward".