Council chief salaries 'staggering'

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Research by The Taxpayers' Alliance showed the number earning more than £100,000 a year had soared by 27% since last year, with several chief executives on packages worth more than twice that.

Alliance policy analyst Maria Fort said the sums involved were "staggering".

"The fact that executives who have overseen increases in council tax, cuts in services and major policy failures are getting ever more generously rewarded is frustrating for taxpayers who are struggling to make ends meet.

"In too many town halls there is a culture of rewarding failure. Councils must start tightening their belts - we're in a recession and many of these rewards are financially unsustainable and morally indefensible."

Too many authorities remained secretive about the cash they paid, she said.

The chief executive of the Local Government Association, John Ransford, defended the high pay rates - arguing they were needed to encourage the most talented people to the public sector. But he warned town halls that in the current economic climate pay deals needed to be "demonstrably reasonable".

"These figures represent 0.0005 per cent of the total workforce in local government," he said.

"Councils are responsible for ensuring that more than £100 billion of taxpayers' money is spent wisely and provides more than 800 activities local people want and need.

"Councils need talented people in top management positions but they have to balance this with the need, in a tight financial situation, for all salaries to be demonstrably reasonable. In these tough economic times it is only right that everyone gets to see how much is paid to the people who help deliver their local services."