Council's new top official - 'We wish you luck, Sue - you'll need it'

A little bit of history is made today as Sue Bruce starts work as the first female chief executive of Edinburgh's city council.

We wish you luck, Sue. As our article today on the city's debt shows, you are going to need it, plus every bit of managerial nous you have picked up in an impressive career.

But you will, of course, already be well aware of the council's predicament - an Audit Commission warning as borrowing heads towards a whopping 1.3 billion, plus a deficit of at least 90 million in the revenue budget over the next three years.

In fact, Sue, your experience at Aberdeen City Council, which you took over in the midst of its own financial disaster, was no doubt one of the reasons the Capital's recruitment panel chose you for the top job.

Getting to grips with Edinburgh's purse should be your priority here, too, and you may share our alarm at the ease with which some elected councillors shrug off the debt.

A firm guiding hand will be needed, not just to prod an occasionally divided administration in the right direction, but to arbitrate as departments headed by some strong characters squabble over inevitably diminishing pots of cash.

On that, Sue - and apologies for this when you have barely had time to hang your coat - you should consider a shake-up at Waverley Court.

At any time, and especially in this austere one, six huge service departments with directors on six-figure salaries is at least one too many. The departure of two directors, at the same time as your predecessor, is an ideal chance to make savings.

A simpler management structure will also give you more support for the challenges that lie ahead, not least as political tensions rise in the run-up to the 2012 council elections.

Then there are the trams. We wonder what you make of the mess they are in, though as an apolitical official you will, of course, look to implement what passes for the will of the people through their councillors.

We wish you particular luck with that, Sue. Indeed, this is perhaps a good time to point out that the News remains a critical friend of the trams project. In fact, despite the moans you will doubtless hear from thin-skinned colleagues, we hope you will find that is this newspaper's starting point on all your new council does.

Yes, we don't hesitate to point out failure when we see it and, yes, we also provide a platform for the council's critics even when we don't agree with their views. But we do that because, despite financial and other problems, we think Edinburgh is a great place to live and work, and we want it to be even better.

We hope that is what has brought you here, Sue. Again, best of luck.