'It's still not looking great': Manchester's outgoing council chief opens up on 'incredibly difficult' crisis facing city

For anyone choosing the biggest jobs in local government in the North of England, undoubtedly near the top of the list are the chief executives of the city councils of Manchester and Leeds.

They're roles that come with responsibility for vital services in our region's two biggest cities, leading thousands of employees and overseeing annual budgets into the hundreds of millions.

With Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds city council, and Joanne Roney, his counterpart in Manchester, set to leave their positions this year, they spoke on The Northern Agenda podcast about their time in charge, what they've learned and what the future holds for our town halls after a turbulent and challenging last 14 years of austerity.

Read more: Manchester to get 2,000 bins replaced in £15m 'clean city' drive

In May, Mr Riordan announced his intention to leave at the end of 2024 after 14 years to explore new opportunities. And not long after, Ms Roney announced she was to leave her role at Manchester city council to take on the top job at her crisis-hit home town hall in Birmingham.

They described why they're expecting this year to be the toughest yet for setting town hall budgets, how our national housing crisis could be solved if the rest of the country was like Leeds and Manchester, and how the North keeps the lights on in London.

Listen to the full interview on The Northern Agenda podcast here:

Here are some snippets:

Joanne Roney reflects on how things have changed for Manchester City Council during her time in charge

"During that COVID period we saw a decade's worth of transformation done in the space of a year, in terms of digital, in terms of the ways we worked, in terms of data, the way in which we connect to our