The civil servant in charge of the Communities Plan is to become director of housing at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Neil McDonald replaces Michael Gahagan, who retires today.
McDonald coordinated the production and delivery of the Communities Plan before it was unveiled in February.

Before that, McDonald was head of the local authority housing division in the ODPM. He joined the ODPM from the department for transport and starts his new job on Monday.

McDonald鈥檚 former ODPM colleague, Sarah Webb, welcomed the appointment. Newly installed as director of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, Webb worked with McDonald in her previous job as director of the community housing taskforce. She said: 鈥淚鈥檓 very pleased. [McDonald] has a lot of housing knowledge, so I am delighted.鈥�

John Moralee, chief executive of the Northern Housing Consortium, said delivering on the Communities Plan was 鈥渘o mean feat鈥� and welcomed McDonald鈥檚 appointment.

Source

Housing Today