The borough council's new chief executive has labelled the climate crisis as "fundamental" and must become part of "business as usual".

Russell O'Keefe took up the top role at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council last month, and will now lead the authority as it aims to meet its ambitious pledge to be carbon neutral by the end of 2025.

In an exclusive interview with The Gazette, Mr O'Keefe said that the authority must be "collaborative" if it is to make a difference.

He said: "If we are going to achieve the sort of changes we need, it needs to become more than just a project and plan, it needs to be part of the day-to-day way we all live, work and operate.

"Certainly, my aim would be to make sure it is part of the way the council operates day-to-day, that it’s business as usual.

"What is going to be important is bringing the community into this process, because our council can’t achieve the changes needed on its own.

"It is going to be a learning journey, we’re not going to be able to change how we do things overnight, but it is something we have got to do quickly.

"That is about working together, being collaborative and making sure everyone understands how we’re changing things and why."

The Gazette reported earlier this week how the authority's cabinet endorsed its climate strategy, detailing how it intends to meet the climate challenges it faces.

Mr O'Keefe has spent most of his career in local government, mostly at Norwich City Council. There, he lead their "improvement journey", turning them from an "underperforming council to quite a high-performing council".

He joins Basingstoke and Deane in the midst of its third national lockdown in under a year. Indeed, just seven hours after he started the job, the town was placed into lockdown.

"[It] is probably not your best first day," he admitted, "but nevertheless it has been fantastic since I've joined and I've been impressed with where the council is and what it is doing and everyone has been incredibly kind and welcoming."

In his first months in the job, Mr O'Keefe is going to be faced with a situation never before seen - with businesses across the borough trying to recover from restrictions that have hampered their trade.

Lockdown rules mean that many hospitality and retail venues have had to spend much of the last twelve months closed or at reduced capacity.

The chief executive says that the "challenge in the medium term" will be "how we work with businesses and communities to support recovery".

"What will be really important as an organisation is how we engage and listen to people, and understand what some of those impacts are and how we might help and respond," he continued.

"The fact we are quite responsive is a really good starting point, and the fact we have got really good relationships with partner organisations, that is going to have to be a focus going forward.

"No one really knows what the effect of a pandemic like this will be on the economy. We haven’t had one like this for 100 years and our economy was completely different then.

"It is going to be a learning experience, but as a council we will do everything we can to support local businesses and our communities as we move forward."

Speaking about why he decided to move to Basingstoke, Mr O'Keefe added: "One of the things that drew me to the place and the council was the ambition, the ambition of local business, elected members and staff I met during the process.

"We’ve already got some really ambitious plans, so my first priority is to make sure they’re delivered and working with Ken [Rhatigan, council leader] and the other members, and the great partner organisations we’ve got.

"What I want us to continue to be is [a council] that listens, one that is really customer and community focused, thirdly one that when we say we’re going to do something we actually do it, so we deliver on those ambitious plans, and the other two things are ongoing things about always looking at better way to do things and always looking for ways to be more efficient.

"We are in a relatively good financial position compared to a lot of other councils, but obviously we always want to be as efficiently as we can be because we take really seriously that we are custodians of public money and public assets."