A SOCIAL services chief is to stand down, leading to the downsizing of a council’s cabinet.

Coun Philip Gretton, cabinet member for adult social care for eight years, stepped down on Wednesday.

The decision comes two weeks after County Hall’s Liberal Democrat group called for the cabinet to be reduced in size.

There will now be nine members in the cabinet.

Coun John Campion will be doing his job and that of Coun Gretton, combining his existing role as cabinet member for localism and communities with the role of adult social care with immediate effect.

Coun Gretton, an accountant by profession, was assistant to the cabinet member for social services from 2002 to 2003 and chairman of Health Overview and Scrutiny between 2003 and 2005.