This is what Wigan Council leader Donna Hall has said about retiring

Ms Hall is set to step down from her role next year after eight years at the helm of the local authority.

Related: Senior figures pay tribute to outgoing Wigan Council CEO Donna HallShe joined Wigan in 2011 initially as deputy chief executive before taking on the top role six months later.

Today, she spoke about the "difficult decision" to say goodbye to her role.

“The last eight years have been the best of my working life," she said.

“I have really loved working with all 5,000 of our hard-working, compassionate, amazing staff who have all pulled together despite the cuts to deliver the best possible services for our residents.

“I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

“It is a really difficult decision to make to choose to retire because I have loved Wigan so much but I feel the time is right for a new chief executive to continue the brilliant work we have done over the years through The Deal.”