THE top man at Oxford City Council has his sights set on pastures new as he prepares to leave the post after a decade.

Stepping down as chief executive, Peter Sloman will be walking into the same job but at nearby unitary authority, Reading Borough Council.

In 2014/15 he was the highest paid member of staff at the city council, on a salary more than £143,000.

In an email to his colleagues, seen by the Oxford Mail, Mr Sloman said it had been a a ‘privilege working in a wonderful global city.’

He added: “But without being too pompous I have a strong belief that places need renewed leadership at the right time and a decade with the same chief executive is probably long enough.

“It’s going to be challenge to manage a unitary authority which is working hard to adjust to the new financial realities and try to mirror the success we have had in Oxford."

Mr Sloman said: “It’s really motivating to be able to make a contribution to the town’s [Reading’s] success story, but it’s going to be tough to ensure services to protect children and vulnerable adults are sustained despite fiscal retrenchment.”

Mr Sloman has insisted his decision to leave has ‘nothing to do with the unitary’ proposals.

He told the Oxford Mail yesterday: “I have done 10 years in Oxford and I wanted a new challenge where I could see through the transformation of the authority in my tenure.

“I’m now 57 and it felt to me that it was now or never for making a move. It is important for an organisation to get a fresh pair of eyes.”

Mr Sloman said his departure was unrelated to the current plans to shake-up local government in Oxfordshire. He said: "If it is not broke, do not fix it.

Oxfordshire County Council has to show that the proposal has widespread support and from the surveys and consultations the city council has done, they show in the city there is not support for just one council.

“I do not think it will go through.”

Leader of Oxford City Council Bob Price said Mr Sloman had ‘significantly transformed the council for the better'.

He added: “He has worked closely with elected members to improve the lives of the city’s residents, helped make Oxford a dynamic economic and cultural hub and worked well with a wide range of partners across the city and county and the wider local government community.”

Carl Welham, spokesman for the city council, said yesterday that an announcement would be made confirming Mr Sloman’s successor after his appointment is ratified at the Reading Borough Council meeting today.