Hollings managed the fallout from the death of Victoria Climbié and oversaw a comms audit following the Audit Commission’s labelling of
the council as ‘weak’ in its Comprehensive Performance Assessment late last year.
‘Working at Haringey has been a real rollercoaster ride,’ said Hollings. ‘I have recommended a restructuring of the communications team to strengthen the comms strategy.
‘Part of that process has inevitably involved me reviewing my own position. As a result, I believe the time is right for me to hand over to someone new. I will be considering a number of options.’
Hollings said she had recommended closer relationships between the 29-strong comms team’s separate functions – namely press office, publicity, web communications and internal comms.
Haringey corporate comms manager Nicki Fulford has assumed Hollings’s responsibilities on an interim basis.
Fulford said: ‘The restructure is at an early stage and the head of comms role is under review. At the moment we have a flat structure, but we are looking to change that.’
Earlier this year, Hollings launched the Making a Better Haringey campaign. (PRWeek, 23 May). It consisted of a poster ad and media relations push highlighting improvements in the borough’s libraries, environment and crime reduction.
In the Climbié case, care workers were accused of not doing enough to prevent her death, and the council was accused of incompetence and covering up evidence after documents about the case were mislaid.
Hollings joined Haringey in December 2001, having been head of comms at Isle of Wight Council and chair of the Society of County and Unitary Public Relations Officers.
