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The new boss of St Edmundsbury Borough Council was in Haverhill this morning as he gets to know his new area.

Ian Gallin, who is the first joint chief executive of both St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath, started his new role a fortnight ago and said he was still in the process of getting to know the area and the staff of both councils.

The councils have pledged to remain separate, with separate meetings and separate budgets, but will be merging more and more officers, so he admitted there would be fewer jobs eventually.

Each council has a management team at present, but Mr Gallin said the functions would be shared as it was merged in to one management team.

He pledged to continue his predecessor Geoff Rivers' role as corporate director with responsibility for Haverhill to begin with, although that might change.

"I'm up for doing it to begin with, but I just have to make sure I can give it the time I would need to," he said. If not, he said he was in favour of someone else continuing the role 'at a very senior level'.

Mr Gallin comes here from Plymouth where he was assistant chief executive to the unitary city council, but before that was assistant chief executive in West Wiltshire, which he described as a similar area, rural with a series of market towns.

He had been used there to joint working with town councils, and hoped to continue that here.

"I have already picked up there are partnerships here with a clear intention of making sure the right things happen," he said.

"I prefer a positive agenda, even if occasionally difficult, because it is better for me to work with."

The new links with Forest Heath would make joint working with Cambridhesire authorities even more important and beneficial, he said.

"It is much stronger if we work together to articulate a set of requirements and what are our overall priorities," he said.

"When you are lobbying for infrastructure or inward investment, it's just got to have a stronger voice."

Mr Gallin (42) has a background in economic development and corporate planning within local government, and he said economic growth and development was a main prtiority in St Edmundsbury.

He has done a lot of work on regenerating town centres, from visual enhancement up to major redevelopment schemes.

Once he is settled in, he sees his role as being as proactive as possible in developing new ideas, while doing the reactive part of his job well by making sure the customer is at the centre of how service provision is delivered.