THURROCK Council has added another highly-paid officer to its phalanx of senior staff at a time when it has been declared bankrupt.

Though there has been no public announcement about his role, a retired former valuation and asset manager at Medway Council has been recruited as a interim director at Thurrock Council on a lucrative package, apparently far in excess of what he got for a similar job on the other side of the Thames.

Noel Filmer has been appointed Thurrock's interim director for property, an announcement he made on the Linked In social media platform.

Mr Filmer worked for Medway Council for almost 25 years and before that for Kent County Council for nine years

His new role comes with a salary in the region of £100,000 a year, which is a sizable jump for Mr Filmer. The role he left at Medway last year was advertised at a salary of between £49,278 - £65,431 - an apparent increase in annual pay for Thurrock's new man of around 35 per cent!

Like Thurrock, Medway Council is a unitary authority. It has a population of around 278,000, compared to Thurrock's 175,500. Thurrock and Medway are similar in many ways, though Medway is also is slightly larger in terms of square miles. Both have riverside economies and there are many comparatives between the two.

Where there is a significant difference is the salaries paid to senior staff, illustrated by the two roles undertaken by Mr Filmer - which are similar in nature but Thurrock pays around 35 per cent more.

There are believed to be more than 260 people on salary packages well in excess of £60,000 at Thurrock Council. In Medway there are 123.

The salary package of the chief executive at Medway, Neil Davies, is around £180,000. The recently resigned CEO of Thurrock, Lyn Carpenter, was drawing on a deal worth around £240,000.

Nine posts at Medway pay more than £100,000 - there are at least 19 earning that in Thurrock.

Figures based on 20-21 accounts

Thurrock also spends far more on aggregate on its top staff than another nearby Thames unitary council, Southend which has a population of 181,000. There are 23 senior staff at Southend Council, which pays its CEO a package of around £200,000. Twenty three director roles pay £100,000 or more and 193 people earn £60,000 or more.

Thurrock Council's director of place Mark Bradbury, welcomed Mr Filmer to Thurrock, saying: "Great to have you on board, we have got some challenges and your experience will be a great asset to us."

Mr Bradbury himself only joined Thurrock Council in July in the assistant director role now fulfilled by Mr Filmer and was promoted to the Director of Place rposition, which has a salary of £140,000, in October.

A statement from the council when asked by Thurrock Nub News about the appointment of Mr Filmer says: "This is an interim appointment to an existing role which provides capacity to respond to intervention and deliver improvements, it was agreed by general services committee as part of the interim senior management arrangements."

It is more than 18 months since the Conservative administration at Thurrock made a pledge to cut 500 full time jobs and make a saving of more than £20 million over two years.

Announcing those job cuts in July 2021, then finance poprtfolio holder Cllr Shane Hebb said: "The cuts would involve greater consolidation of services, with job losses through retirement or a review of necessity.

"We will be working smarter and leaner with some services being reformed with better use of technology," said Cllr Hebb.

The council has given little indication of how many posts it has lost - through many front line services, including waste collections, have been badly hit with the council blaming staff shortages.