A FORMER district council chairman has been appointed as Community portfolio holder on Stratford District Council’s Cabinet.
Coun Christopher Kettle was appointed the position recently by council leader Tony Jefferson, replacing Coun Sarah Whalley-Hoggins on the Cabinet.
The father-of-two is currently chairman of the Audit and Standards Committee, a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and was the council’s chairman for the last two years.
Audit and Standards Committee will elect a new chairman at its next meeting.
Born and bred in the district, Coun Kettle studied economics at Exeter University and after graduating spent a brief time in the British Army before training in London as a chartered accountant. In 1997 he left the profession to become finance director of a client and has since provided financial services and advice to businesses in a variety of sectors. He also works on his family farm at Bishop’s Itchington.
Coun Kettle’s association with local government started at an early age when his father Rupert was chairman of Warwickshire County Council.
His own career began with his election to Bishop’s Itchington Parish Council until 2015 when he was elected to Stratford District Council as member for the Harbury ward in 2014. He went on to represent the new Bishop’s Itchington ward in 2015 before being elected vice chairman, then chairman of the district council in 2018 until 2020.
As chairman he has been involved in building the relationship between the district council and the City of Fuzhou in Jiangxi Province China, visiting the country a number of times on behalf of the council.
