Southampton City Council's Dawn Baxendale has been offered the job as new chief executive of Birmingham City Council.

The MJ understands Ms Baxendale, who has been chief executive of the south coast city since March 2013, beat an impressive shortlist of experienced council chiefs to take the job in the beleaguered city. 

Ms Baxendale will replace current interim Stella Manzie, who took over in March following the sudden departure of former chief executive, Mark Rogers.

Cllr Ian Ward: 'I am delighted that we have been able to make an offer to Dawn. We had some very strong candidates apply and it was heartening to see so many excellent people interested in the job, but Dawn was the one who we all felt had the qualities the city council needs.

'The offer will be formalised at full council on Monday and then we will look forward to welcoming her officially in 2018.'

Ms Baxendale took over as interim in Southampton after serving four years as director of environment and economy.  Her 20-year public service career included roles in Portsmouth, Wigan, Kirklees, and Doncaster.

Speaking to The MJ in an interview in June, Ms Baxendale called on councils to reinvigorate public services. She said: ‘I genuinely think over several decades, local government has lost its raison d'être about public service. We are public servants, not civil servants. It is our job to serve residents and that is not something I pay lip service to. We must reinvigorate that connection to public service that is fundamental to what we do. In today's times, that is most crucial.'