New Essex County Council Chairman confirmed
Politics / Wed 21st May 2025 at 09:00am
COUNCILLOR Ray Gooding has been announced as Essex County Council’s new Chairman. The announcement was made at the meeting of the Full Council today (Tuesday 20 May).
Councillor Gooding had served as Vice-Chairman for the past two years while Councillor Jill Reeves was Chairman. Councillor Carlo Guglielmi has been appointed as the new Vice-Chairman of the Council. Councillor Guglielmi is the member for Tendring Rural West.
He has been the County Councillor for the Stansted division since 2005. Previously, he has held the roles of Cabinet Member for Children and Families and Cabinet Member for Education and Skills at the council.
He has sat on several committees. These include chairing the People and Families Policy and Scrutiny Committee and Chairman of the Scrutiny Board.
He has also served on flood and coastal committees, adoption panels, education panels and several other outside bodies. He continues to serve as a trustee of the Active Essex Foundation.
Councillor Gooding is by profession a Mechanical Engineer. He was the Senior Partner in an Engineering Consultancy for more than 20 years. As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers, he has played an active role in developing young engineers to achieve their full potential.
He also has a keen interest in encouraging participation in sport. As well as this, he is an advocate for the role of music and arts in supporting community wellbeing. These areas will be his focus during his term of office.
Speaking on his appointment as Chairman, Councillor Gooding, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Councillor Reeves as Vice-Chairman over the last couple of years and I look forward to my term in office as the new Chairman of the council. It is an honour to take up this role and I look forward to serving the residents and communities of Essex. One of my priorities as Chairman will be to focus on the role of the voluntary sector in Essex and the benefits it brings to the county.”
Adam
2025-05-21 09:12:17
Interesting and totally illegitimate as we had no election for Essex CC, we should ignore anything they say or claim.
Seamus
2025-05-21 10:33:59
I thought we were all refused a vote in the county council/local council elections because we were told, with unitary body discusions taking part, it makes no sense to appoint people who might be changed only 12 months later. Mr Goodings appointmentment would seem to suggest a two tiered political system in which the electorate are lied to whilst the boys club take care of their own in being able to continue to feed at the political trough, at the tax payers expense.
Tonto
2025-05-21 21:24:12
Electors don't get to choose the Chair, they are chosen by the members of the council. It's hardly unusual for a deputy to take over when the person at the top retires, and it's strange to call it a boys' club when the previous Chair was a woman. I see she was treated just as uncivily when she was appointed 2 years ago - no doubt by people who have never done public service themselves.
Seamus
2025-05-21 21:40:07
Perhaps Tonto you're too close to the role otherwise you would have read correctly. Neither I or Adam said electors choose the chair. We questioned why they would appoint someone who might be in the role only 12 months given the county council members in the cc elections are to be had now in 2026. The boys club was a euphemism, but you knew that already. Let's not kid ourselves on "Public Service". In 2023 in Essex Live, reported the role gained a package of £254,453 a year and I doubt the wages have dropped.
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