Name: Ray Walley
Job: Chief executive, Thornhill New Deal for Communities, Southampton
Salary: £50,000
Life couldn't be better for Midlander Ray Walley, who moved down south with his partner 18 months ago. The 55-year-old is getting married next month.
The wedding is the icing on the cake for Walley, who found his ideal job after moving from Newcastle-under-Lyme, where he was in charge of a regeneration project.
As chief executive of a New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme he is working with the Thornhill community to inject new life into a depressed Southampton suburb which has become an area of social deprivation.
Death rates are higher than average, according to Walley, who has made it his mission to bring better health care and education closer to Thornhill's 10,000 residents. A total of £49m of government funding is promised for the 10-year programme.
The local primary care trust is working closely with the NDC to set up a new £1.5m health centre in Thornhill. Closer ties are being forged with a nearby higher education college to set up a new community college. Within the next two years residents should be able to study for NVQs in local church halls.
Other work is being carried out to renovate school buildings and get truants back into school.
As manager of a £5m Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Walley focused on economic initiatives in an area of high unemployment.
"This is very different," says Walley. "Whereas the SRB was lead by the local authority, this is very positively community-led and the needs are far more complex. It is very challenging and very satisfying."
