In the last few days i have been interviewed by various sections of the media regarding the salary increase for the CEO at Teignbridge Council.
On every occasion I have tried to make it clear that neither I nor the Lib Dem group I lead on the council are in any way critical of the Chief Executive Officer. We are however highly critical of the size of the salary increase and the method by which it was arrived at. I would like therefore to say again, none of my comments or those of colleagues are of a personal nature; we believe the issue should have been brought to a Full Council meeting as decreed by Eric Pickles in his letter to all local authorities in February 2013. While various agenda items have been debated at different times about changing the structure of management, none of those agenda items have ever contained any financial statements or indications of pay rises.