Row brewing over Herefordshire Council appointment

2:30pm Friday 18th July 2008

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HEREFORDSHIRE Council faces a bustup over the appointment of its new deputy chief executive by an “all Tory”interview panel.

Leaders of the council’s other political groups are angry at apparently being left out of the process and threaten rebellion when the appointment, which comes with a salary worth more than £100,000, has to be ratified by the full council.

The council says it is working within its own rules in only allowing councillors from the ruling Tory group a place on the selection panel, but chief executive Chris Bull is offering to meet the aggrieved leaders to “resolve their concerns”.

Councillor Terry James, leader of the Lib- Dem group, said the spirit of the appointments process allowed other group leaders in the interviews. “We’ve always done that to avoid appointees being branded political,” he said.

Labour group leader councillor Chris Chappell warned of a challenge to the eventual appointment at full council if the traditional consensual process was abandoned.

In a statement, the council said that representatives from the political groups would be involved in meeting the candidates, with their views “taken into account”.

The deputy chief executive will be secondin- command of both the council and the Primary Care Trust under a joint working arrangement.

Around five more appointments to the senior team are still to be made.