Decision on Northamptonshire's new fire chief delayed after the preferred candidate couldn't attend meeting

A meeting to appoint the new chief fire officer for Northamptonshire has been put on hold, as the preferred candidate could not attend the panel.

Nikki Watson, retired deputy chief constable of Avon and Somerset, was selected by police fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) Stephen Mold to take up the position.

The panel, tasked with assessing her intentions and suitability for the fire service, was told at the start of the meeting that Ms Watson would not be in attendance as she had been called away at short notice for personal reasons.

If Ms Watson is appointed, she will be the fourth chief fire officer that Northamptonshire has seen in the past 12 months.

Previous fire chief Mark Jones stood down in July, and Nicci Marzec was controversially appointed in an interim position that same month.

Her short time in the role - only ten days - cast doubt on PFCC Stephen Mold who later survived a vote of no confidence after being scrutinised for choosing Ms Marzec to lead.

The interim chief was a friend of Mr Mold and was criticised by the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) for a lack of operational experience.

Cllr Wendy Randall, leader of the Labour Group, addressed an open letter to the chairman of the police fire and crime panel, Cllr David Smith, after it was revealed that the public wouldn’t be able to ask questions of the preferred candidates.

She said it would ‘risk adding fuel to the fire’ and that lots of questions were being rightly raised by the public as the ‘track record [of appointments] is not good’.

Cllr Randall wrote: “When you are going to hold a position that puts you in charge of a county and making life and death decisions you should be able to handle questions from the public.”

Cllr Smith said that ‘there have not been public speakers at any of the previous confirmation hearings held in Northamptonshire’.

The panel instead heard from the PFCC’s preferred candidate for the role of chief executive, Jonny Bugg.

Mr Bugg has held the position of the head of the Home Office Fire Strategy and Reform Unit for the past four years and also has experience in local government in Hertfordshire.

He told the panel he had a ‘track record’ for getting out onto the patch and ‘engaging with and understanding the community and its needs first’.

He highlighted three key areas he wanted to concentrate on in the force as ‘stability, strength, and innovation’.

When asked if the role would be demanding for him after stepping down from a national appointment, Mr Bugg responded that taking up chief executive in Northamptonshire ‘feels like a development and a challenge’, and that it would be ‘a really exciting one’.

The panel went into private session to discuss the hearing and whether Mr Bugg is appropriate for the role.