THE new chief executive of Derby City Council said he is determined to give his all to the role – despite keeping his family home in Yorkshire because he does not want to uproot his daughters from school.

Adam Wilkinson will buy a home for himself in the city to use in the week and commute back to West Yorkshire at weekends.

He believes his decision will allow his four children, aged 11 to 18, to continue their studies while leaving him time in the evenings to throw himself fully into his new £160,000-a-year job.

Mr Wilkinson, 45, said: "I'm personally going to live in a flat or house because my home in West Yorkshire is 67 miles away.

"Two of my four daughters are at critical stages in their schooling and university so we didn't want to have to uproot them.

"This job will require regular late evenings in terms of meetings and partnership boards so there is a strong need to be in Derby.

"I want to give this role 110% and get to know the city, so that is why I'm moving."

Mr Wilkinson was unanimously selected as the new chief executive of the council and will start on July 27.

His key focus will be on regeneration, which has dominated his 26-year career in local government and was the reason he was drawn to take up the role of chief executive of Derby City Council.

Mr Wilkinson said: "Derby has been concentrating on regeneration for a number of years and that offer of exciting prospects and ensuring the council continues to be an excellent authority appealed to me.

"There are still some key sites to develop and there are lots of opportunities geographically and good existing businesses. I think Derby is in an excellent position to raise its profile in the region and become a city to be recognised."

Mr Wilkinson has worked in local government for 26 years and has been at chief executive level for nearly 10.

He said it was an ambition of his to move up to the top position of being chief executive of a council.

"Opportunities like this don't come up that often, so Derby is excellent and I have been waiting for a city of that nature to come up," said Mr Wilkinson.

Mr Wilkinson set up his own consultancy last year which allowed him to provide interim director services to City of York Council.

Before that he worked at Kent County Council as director for environment and regeneration and prior to that he was executive director for environment and development for five years.

He said he is now looking forward to working with councillors in Derby to raise the city's profile.

"The members demonstrated they have ambition to achieve improvements for the city, so that political ambition is there and I'm looking forward to working in Derby," he said.

Current chief executive Ray Cowlishaw will leave on June 5. In the interim, deputy chief executive Michael Foote will be acting chief executive.