Falklands job for ex-council boss

Mr Thorogood resigned from Swansea Council in February 2006

A former chief executive of Swansea Council who quit while suspended over a planning row has been appointed to a similar job in the Falkland Islands.

Tim Thorogood will take up his new post 8,000 miles away in January.

He left his £120,000-a-year job in Swansea during a probe into work at his Gower home, admitting minor planning breaches but denying any misconduct.

A Falkland Islands Government spokesman said Mr Thorogood had the "enthusiasm, energy and experience" for the role.

He said Mr Thorogood has been appointed the islands' new chief-executive following a "comprehensive recruitment process" and it was expected he would arrive in the south Atlantic with his wife Alison at the start of next year.

Falklands councillor Mike Summers said: ""This is a key appointment to the government, and one that requires energy, enthusiasm and commitment as well as relevant skills and experience.

I'm delighted to have this opportunity to live in such a beautiful part of the world Tim Thorogood

"Councillors are satisfied that we have found the right person for the next stage of our development, and look forward to working with Tim to carry out the programmes and projects in hand."

The isolated and sparsely-populated islands, a British overseas territory, remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Britain and Argentina, who went to war over the territory in 1982.

With a population of around 2,400 people fishing, sheep farming and tourism are the main economic activities although the seabed around the islands is thought to contain substantial oil reserves.

Mr Thorogood spent three years as the chief executive of Swansea Council before he resigned in February 2006.

The council later passed retrospective planning permission for garage alterations to his home on Gower.

He is currently chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, a think tank aimed at strengthening local government in the UK.

In a statement he said: "I'm delighted to have this opportunity to live in such a beautiful part of the world and to work alongside the very talented people of the Falkland Islands.

"It is an opportunity I've long aspired to, having lived in the islands as a child and having previously applied for the post in 2002. "