CORNWALL Council’s chief operating and finance officer has resigned from the local authority at the end of a week that also saw its chief executive officer Kate Kennally resign her post.

The council’s Liberal Democrat leader Leigh Frost has played down any notion of a crisis at the top as Annabel Scholes becomes the third senior officer to resign in little over a week.

Cllr Frost said that Ms Scholes’ decision to leave the council after just six months in the role – which comes with a six-figure salary – was due to personal reasons.

“I can’t pretend that it’s no problem at all,” he told us. “However, we’ve had Andy Keeling come in as the interim deputy chief executive and he’s doing a really good job, so we’ve got that leadership in place, which is really important.

“Actually, the engine room of the team is all there. The organisation doesn’t stand or fall on one person. It takes a bigger team to deliver and that team is there. They’re good at what they do and I have every faith in the work that they do.

“Whilst it is a pretty hefty bump in the road, it is only a bump.”

Ms Scholes took over the role of chief operating officer and Section 151 officer – basically, the council’s chief finance officer – in March, following the departure of Alice Gunn, who had been in the role for less than a year and also decided to leave due to personal reasons. The role was advertised with a salary of up to £165,000 in August 2024. Ms Gunn was employed in January 2025, replacing Tracie Langley, who joined the council in 2020 before retiring in 2024.

Ms Scholes’ resignation comes just four days after it was announced that CEO Kate Kennally had resigned following a month’s leave of absence. No reason has been given for her departure, despite calls from some councillors for full transparency.

Ms Kennally’s decision to leave came just a few days after the resignation of her wife, Rachael Rothero, the council’s service director for people commissioning.

Responding to questions about Ms Kennally’s departure, Cllr Frost told us: “These things are never easy, but it’s not a political issue at the end of the day. You have HR and legal teams that advise you and you follow that advice. Kate is entitled to her privacy just like every other employee. She wanted to move on and she’s moved on.

“She’s spent ten-and-a-half years as the steward of Cornwall Council and she’s done some really good things in her time, but everything has a time. She’s made that decision and I wish her nothing but the best for the future.”

On being asked about why there has been a certain amount of secrecy around her absence and then resignation, Cllr Frost added: “It’s never easy as the chief executive of any council is in the public eye to a certain extent, but she is still an employee who has rights that you have to adhere to. Is it frustrating? Yes as I’m someone who loves to be open and tell everyone everything, but I’m not going to breach someone’s privacy.”

There have often been grumbles in the corridors of County Hall that Cornwall Council is too officer-led, with Ms Kennally as the emblem of that.

“I would argue that we are member-led,” said the leader. “I wanted to make sure that members had more of a say, made more decisions and there was more transparency. I think I am delivering that.

“Being chief executive of any council is a difficult job and you’ve got to have a strong will about you to get that job done. In my time as leader, Kate has been brilliant. She has worked with me.

“When I’ve said, these are the things I want to do – I want to fight against a mayor and Devonwall, and I don’t care what the Government says – she’s backed me up on that. That was a member decision and she supported me on that.”

When the new CEO is in place are there any aspects of the running of the council the leader would like to see change?

“We’re heading into being granted strategic authority status and there is an opportunity where ‘things are different now, let’s see what different looks like’. I would fully expect our next chief executive to be taking that on because we are going to be completely different to every other local authority in the country.”

Cllr Frost will take part in a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham at No 10 North on Monday to discuss the finer details of single strategic authority status and what powers and funding that will give Cornwall.