VETERAN councillor Colin Froggatt has resigned his position as executive member for children and young people’s services on Warrington Borough Council
Cllr Froggatt, (pictured) a councillor since 1979, will, however, continue to serve as a member for Poulton South ward.
Leader of the council Cllr Terry O’Neill said: “Colin has been a valuable member of the executive board and we fully respect his decision to stand down from this role. 
“During his time Colin has helped drive through some key improvements to the way the council offers services for the children and young people of Warrington. For example, our fostering service has recently been inspected by Ofsted and found to be ‘good’; we have halved the school absence rates for children in care; 244 families of disabled children and young people have received respite breaks; and we are now beating the national target for reducing the time for court care proceedings.
“We have thanked Colin for his professionalism, hard work and commitment in this post. He has served the council and the borough excellently and we feel we are indebted to him, and we wish him well.”
Cllr Froggatt has served on both Warrington Borough and the former Cheshire County Council and was formerly chairman of personnel and social services committees.
He holds a deploma in Social Work and Certificate of Qualification in Social Work and worked in the probation service, retiring after 20 years during which he specialised in high risk offenders and workplace student supervision.
He was a non-executive director of Ashworth Hospital Trust and Warrington Primary Care Trust.
A talented singer and guitarist, he composed and performed a song at the final meeting of the county council.
Cllr Froggatt declined to comment on the reasons for his resignation.
He said: “I am both pleased and flattered by the comments being made regarding my
tenure as lead member for Children and Young Peoples Services. However
it would appear that the issue I resigned over is being buried by ‘great praise’.
“The issue was part of the executive board agenda marked confidential.
“Should the council be prepared to release the details surrounding the
decision, I will be prepared to explain the reasons for my resignation.”
Cllr Hitesh Patel has been named as the person responsible for children and young people’s services until after the election in May.
