Few senior figures in local government have left such a legacy as Sir Les Elton, the former chief executive of Gateshead council, who has died aged 67 after suffering from cancer. From the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art to the Sage concert hall and music centre, from the Gateshead Millennium Bridge to the towering Angel of the North, he played a significant part in putting an ordinary northern borough on to the national and international stage.
Under Elton the varied borough of 200,000 people, embracing gritty inner-city, pleasant suburbia and rolling countryside, became a national brand for excellence. Not only was its local education system first class, but its social care, housing, parks, and award-winning gardening department, besides much else, combined in performance leagues to give the council consistently top ratings.
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