New Norwich chief would get 140k

A salary of up to �140,000 has been agreed for the top job at the new Norwich unitary authority - and the hunt for the person to fill the post will start next week.

A salary of up to �140,000 has been agreed for the top job at the new Norwich unitary authority - and the hunt for the person to fill the post will start next week.

The wage which the chief executive of the new unitary council will receive was agreed at a meeting last night where councillors agreed that the five key roles should collectively be paid between �555,000 and �610,000.

As part of a shake-up of local government, services such as social services and schools in Norwich will be provided by the new unitary council instead of by Norfolk County Council, so the new posts need to be created.

The implementation executive set up to steer the transition to the new council enlisted external consultants SOLACE Enterprises to recommend the salary levels for those posts.

And yesterday those consultants presented their recommendations to the members of the executive, made up of city councillors and county councillors who represent Norwich, which agreed the salaries.

The chief executive will be paid between �125,000 and �140,000, the strategic director of adult social services will get between �105,000 and �115,000, the strategic director of children's services between �115,000 and �125,000, the strategic director of resources between �105,000 and �115,000 and the strategic director of development and regeneration between �105,000 and �115,000.

Steve Morphew, leader of Norwich City Council and chairman of the implementation executive, said the wages were about 10pc higher than the equivalent current posts at City Hall - for a job which he said was probably twice as big.