Taxpayers who shelled out £170,000 to pay off the chief executive of Harrow Council when his role was deleted only months ago are in for another six-figure surprise.
The authority’s Labour administration, elected in May, have confirmed in papers released this afternoon that it will bring back the top-dog role at the council at a salary understood to be approximately £160,000 a year despite the previous Conservative administration ditching it.
Council leader David Perry said: “Last year the Tory administration removed the chief executive of Harrow Council.
“A decision like this wins you cheap political points and I’m sure the critics will be quick to say that this money should be spent on other services and that a chief executive is not necessary.
“The reality is that it is far more costly to not have a chief executive. In making this decision the Tory administration created a unstable management structure, which results in inefficiencies throughout the organisation.
“My own experience in working for a local business is that all companies, let alone a Council with a turnover of nearly £600million, need a chief officer at the top to make this happen, anything else creates long-term instability.”
The announcement follows a consultation launched by Mr Perry, asking council staff if they thought a new chief executive should be hired.
Of the 5,000 staff asked to share their thoughts however, only 384 responded to the questionnaire, the results of which favoured restoring the role.
The previous occupier of the role, Michael Lockwood, left the authority with a taxpayer-funded severance package comprising of a compensation payment of £30,000 and a lump sum pension payment of £138,651, in addition to an annual pension of £65,179.
Council chiefs insisted today that one of the first jobs of the newly-appointed chief executive would be to lead a pruning of senior management.
Reacting to the news, councillor Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative administration which deleted the role, said: “Labour have been itching to bring the position back since day one, and specifically didn’t ask the Harrow residents who will have to pay for it what they thought in case they said no.
"It also shows Labour have no confidence in their ability to govern or to make big decisions – a problem made worse by David Perry only putting in two days a week as leader.
"Labour will be making lots of cuts to services in the near future, and will blame everyone but themselves in the process.
"I hope residents will remember that Labour can find the money to pay someone a fortune so they can do less work, but apparently can’t afford to keep Harrow clean, look after the vulnerable and protect the services residents deserve.”
