“I THINK the borough council is where I hoped it would be, and that is one of the top councils in the country in terms of what it delivers for residents and the Basingstoke community.”

As he prepares to retire from his role as chief executive of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Tony Curtis is clearly happy that he is leaving the local authority in a good place.

After seven years and two months in the hot seat, Mr Curtis’ departure comes as Basingstoke and Deane is in a very good position in terms of its economic strength, the number of positive projects that are on the go, and the fact that residents’ satisfaction with the council, and life in the borough, is at a high point.

During his 16 years at the borough council, Mr Curtis – whose local authority career spans 40 years – has been director of planning and transport, and spent five years as deputy chief executive before he was promoted to his current role in September 2007.

In an interview with The Gazette in 2009, Mr Curtis said that Basingstoke had the potential to become one of the smallest cities in the world by 2026, and would possibly be “in the top 100 cities in the world”.

However, he also crucially said that he felt the borough was at a crossroads, and had lost its ambition and sense of direction. So how does he feel now?

He said: “I feel the ambition came back big time. We have our 20-year masterplan for the borough, and we have attracted new investment such as Bombay Sapphire, Airkix, John Lewis and Network Rail.”

He added: “With all the progress over the last five years, I do believe that, as it grows and becomes more successful, Basingstoke does indeed have great potential.

“If this becomes reality, it will mean that the residents will have an even better quality of life, but it will require major investment in infrastructure to make it happen in a way that benefits everybody.”

Seeing work get underway on the landmark multi-million-pound John Lewis at home and Waitrose combined store on Basing View has given Mr Curtis a great sense of personal satisfaction.

“As a single project, bringing John Lewis to Basingstoke was something I was determined to do, and I led on it personally. It took five years of negotiations, so seeing that on site gives me great pleasure.”

There have undoubtedly been many more highs than lows in Mr Curtis’ time as chief executive. He has even taken positives out of the Manydown controversy, which saw the council’s decision not to put the land into the Local Plan branded as “irrational and unlawful” by a High Court judge.

Mr Curtis said: “Manydown is now happening. The issue around the judicial review, for me, was unexpected and the outcome was unexpected, but the benefit it had was to concentrate minds on the need to move forward on Manydown.

“There was an unintended benefit from it which was that it got everyone focused on moving on with Manydown. Perhaps it has happened slower than we might have hoped but it is happening.

“I feel there was an unnecessary level of criticism after the judicial review, and in particular, I felt that some of the council officers were very unfairly treated in the aftermath, and that is a big regret.

“The reason I say that is because the external legal advice that we took said there was a good prospect of the council successfully resisting the judicial review, and on that basis, what the officers did at the time was justified.”

The fact that council officers have sometimes borne the brunt of criticism from some councillors is something that clearly still rankles with Mr Curtis – and it was an issue that was highlighted in the recent borough council Peer Review Challenge report compiled by external experts.

Mr Curtis said: “I have got no doubt that the vast majority of our politicians are committed to making a difference to the lives of their residents, and they all want to do the best they can.

“Inevitably, politics creates tensions and I, and my colleagues, understand that, but sometimes in Basingstoke and Deane, officers unfortunately get caught in some of the crossfire and become the collateral damage, and I would like to think in the future that this can be eliminated.

“The key is for people to recognise what was said in the Peer Review Challenge and agree to work together. Sometimes it is about councillors stopping and thinking about what they are saying, and the way they are saying it.”

While he is clearly pleased to be leaving the council in a strong position, Mr Curtis said there are still aspects of the borough council’s services that need to be improved.

He said: “There are still pockets of deprivation in the borough and people who are socially excluded, and I probably would have liked to have made more progress in those areas. Ideally, we would have eliminated homelessness but the recession has made that very difficult to achieve.

“There ought to be a focus on delivering more social housing, and there is still a large housing waiting list. It is also difficult for some parts of the community to access decent housing, and I think there is a need to do more that recognises that.”

So what parting advice does the outgoing chief executive have for his successor?

“My advice would be to continue to work with all the partners – you can’t do it alone. You need to continue to improve relations with councillors to work well with all our partners and recognise we have a great team of officers who will give you huge support into the future”, he said.

The search for Mr Curtis’ successor is entering the final stages, and councillors are aiming to choose the new chief executive by early December.

As for Mr Curtis, he won’t be resting on his laurels and will still be an active figure in borough life as he has taken a part-time position, acting in an advisory role at The University of Winchester’s Business School. He will be working to develop relationships between the university, Basingstoke and other areas.