George Candler is Executive Director for Place, and Deputy Chief Executive at North Northamptonshire Council, a post he has held since April 2021. Prior to this he was Chief Executive at Northampton Borough Council for 3 years.

George began his career in local government in Salisbury at the City Hall and then moved into Theatre management in venues in Hastings and Halifax.

Alongside a career in local government George also worked for 3 years at the University of Central Lancashire as General Manager of their Students Union, and when he left, he had led an £8m new build project of the facilities and subsequently won Student Union of the Year.

In his current role, the council serves a population of 400,000 residents and the Directorate has net budget of £75.5m revenue, with over 600 FTE staff. The Place Directorate covers functional areas including Highways, Waste, Assets, Environment, Economic Growth, Planning, Regeneration, Housing and Regulatory Services. The Directorate also leads on Climate and Sustainability, Emergency Planning and Business Continuity drawing in all areas of the council.

George is familiar with local government reorganisation having been an Assistant Director at Shropshire County Council when the county went through LGR from 2007 – 2009. More recently between 2018 – 2021 George led Northampton Borough Council (with a staff of 300+) through LGR to a successful conclusion. He was actively involved in shaping the two new councils, working alongside Theresa Grant. George then led on shaping the new Place Directorate from April 2021 bringing four former district and borough councils plus half of the County Council together.

The focus over the first 4 years has been on transition, rationalisation and building strong foundations for growth. This has included harmonising policies, strategies, procedures, ways of working, and governance. More recently the focus has been on genuine transformation that unitary authorities can bring in a place setting.