Suffolk County Council hopes to have a new full-time chief executive appointed by Easter.

Applications for the job closed on Monday and the recruitment process will continue until mid March.

A shortlist of potential candidates to replace Deborah Cadman, who left to take over as chief executive of the new West Midlands Authority in September, is to be drawn up over the next month and will be presented to members of a specially-convened staff appointments panel which will sit on Monday, March 19.

They will recommend the successful candidate who will then be confirmed at the next meeting of the full council on March 22.

An attempt to appoint a new chief executive in the autumn was halted because the staff appointments committee felt none of the candidates had the necessary skills. Director of children's services Sue Cook has been interim chief executive since Ms Cadman's departure.