Chief executive - who earns more than £120,000 - survives bid to delete his post

The chief executive of East Cambridgeshire District Council survived an attempt to oust him from his position on Thursday night as councillors introduced a surprise motion.

Put forward by Cllr Andy Wright, of the independent group, the motion sought to delete the post of chief executive currently held by John Hill, to be replaced with a management team of three directors.

According to the council’s pay policy statement for 2013/14, Mr Hill’s maximum basic salary package came to more than £124,000.

The motion could have been discussed in public at Thursday night’s meeting of full council but the Conservative group voted to discuss the matter in a private session, with the public and this newspaper excluded.

It was revealed after the meeting, however, that the motion was defeated by the Conservative group, which chose to keep Mr Hill in his position.

Non-aligned councillor, Ian Allen, who sat in on the meeting, said: “Im not surprised the independent group brought this motion because it is quite reasonable that if we are going to see a radical transformation of the council then nothing should be off the table.”

Cllr Wright’s motion read: “Having had time to discuss the proposed staffing changes we feel that with all senior positions at risk, save one, the council is open to serious risk of continuity and dependant on one individual to instigate the proposals.

“In our opinion (deleting the post of chief executive) gives the council much greater protection in that major delegated decisions will at worst two out of three and there is adequate cover for holidays, sickness etc. Also, the inclusion of two senior members should ensure greater members/officer co-operation.

“Undoubtedly there will be constitutional changes needed but we are past masters at this when the need suits.”