A SENIOR county councillor has returned to the cabinet in a new role, months after a sudden departure.

Hampshire County Councillor Russell Oppenheimer has taken on the newly created role of executive member for health and wellbeing.

This comes five months after he left his position as executive member for Universal Services in April, following a spat with then council leader Rob Humby, who stepped down in May to care for family members.

READ MORE: Russell Oppenheimer leaves Hampshire County Council cabinet

Speaking to the Chronicle on his new position, Cllr Oppenheimer said: “I am really excited to be back in the cabinet in this role.

Speaking of this, Cllr Oppenheimer said the disagreement is “water under the bridge”.

“I don’t have a lot to what I said. I worked very closely with Rob Humby for six years, and we did a lot of good work together, and I’m very proud of the work we did when he was deputy leader and I was the select committee chairman, and then working together in the cabinet.

“It is a shame we had a bit of a falling out at the end, but I choose to be happy that, for the most part, we did get on well and we did good work together, and I wish him all the best.”

“It is a really interesting job at this time. We all really want to work together to improve the health of young kids in schools all the way up to adults and older people too to prevent them from getting into bad health.

SEE ALSO: County council consultation seeks views of young people with SEND

“We’re all living longer these days, and we want people to be healthy for longer, so we’re going to do everything we can, at the county, to allow people and give people the opportunity to make health choices.”

Cllr Oppenheimer said that three “key themes” he would like to tackle are childhood obesity, mental health and suicide prevention, and air quality, but said that it is still early days.

He continued: “I’m still having my induction with the public health team, so I don’t feel ready to say what my personal priorities are.”