THE head of Herefordshire's proposed Public Service Trust (PST) has survived two attempts to stop him taking the job.

Herefordshire PST is a plan to combine Herefordshire Council with the county's Primary Care Trust (PCT), creating an all-new local authority.

The council and PCT were involved in the selection process and the final choice of Chris Bull as chief executive.

Councillors and representatives from business, unions, patients' groups and the voluntary sector were included in the decision.

The first challenge to Mr Bull - coming to the county from Southwark Council in London - came in an urgent motion put to full council last Friday by Councillor Anna Toon.

Through the motion, Coun Toon claimed the process the council adopted to choose a new chief executive was not in keeping with the authority's own rules.

The motion called for a vote on referring the process back to the council's strategic monitoring committee.

Seconding the motion, Councillor Gerald Dawe said the timetable for the appointment - made last month - was "unacceptably short" and the process unclear.

Council leader Councillor Roger Phillips said that in Mr Bull, the authority had appointed a candidate of "exceptional qualities" through a statutory process that would stand up to any challenge.

The council voted to defeat Coun Toon's motion by a 34-9 majority.

A second challenge to Mr Bull's appointment came during the council vote to confirm him in the role.

Councillor Bill Walling - one of the councillors involved in the appointment process - called for the job offer to be withheld and the post re-advertised because he was "not convinced of the chosen candidate's quality".

Coun Walling's motion was also defeated by a 34-9 margin.

The result effectively makes Mr Bull the next chief executive of Herefordshire Council, regardless of what happens with the PST.