THURROCK Council has added to its list of six-figure salaried staff by appointing an 'interim director' to support the authority's 'new waste strategy' and oversee improvements.

The news was announced by recently appointed council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall and takes the number of people earning more than £100,000 on the council's director list to 13.

This is at a time when the council has announced it is bankrupt!

Few details of the new post have been given and the council - and senior councillors, including Cllr Coxshall, have not responded to a request by Nub News for an explanation about why the new post is needed.

For the past year the council's waste collection service has been troubled - but the council instigated a 'reset' in October and after it the environment portfolio holder, Cllr Andrew Jefferies told residents that problems were resolved.

In a frank and detailed set of responses to councillors' questions, Cllr Jefferies conceded there had been major problems in the department - which is managed by Julie Rogers' whose salary package is in excess of £130,000 - saying it had had a shocking record of leadership and had not valued its front line workers enough.

Ms Rogers is the director of public realm and draws on the support of a number of assistant directors with responsibilites within her portfolio, all taking home salaries in excess of £90,000.

One of those is the assistant director - street scene and leisure - who now appears to have a new boss called Anita. The newly created job title has been confirmed as Interim Director of Street Scene and Leisure.

Cllr Coxshall made the announcement at a meeting of the cabinet last week and it appears to be a decision he has taken himself, as he is entitled to do under the council's 'strong leader' policy. The appointment had not been discussed at any open forum and came as a surprise to a number of senior councillors.

Cllr Coxshall spoke just after announcing he had personally accepted the resignation of CEO Lyn Carpenter. He said: "Today is a day that we put forward all details of our financial position out in the open.

"Frankly this picture is very grim. I am determined to make the tough decisions that carve a way out for a bright future for the council by making it the best it can be.

"So I believe today it is appropriate for me to announce that on Monday (12 December) I received a letter of resignation from the Chief Executive Lyn Carpenter which I accepted with immediate effect.

"I am looking forward to appointing a substantive chief executive in the new year.

"Also on that point last week I signed an executive decision to accelerate the recruitment process of an interim director to improve the environmental department and make sure that every bin is collected.

"And I look forward for Anita starting work for us after Christmas."

The appointment of a new director takes the number of 'interim' directors on the 14 strong director board to six - and its chief executive Ian Wake (appointed following the departure of the highly-criticised Ms Carpenter) is described as 'acting' CEO.

It also takes the total number of people at the council earning more than £50,000 a year to 260, above 11 per cent of a total workforce of around 2,200 people. The average wage of all workers in Thurrock is said to be £31,876 according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The council has declined to officially comment on the departure of Ms Carpnter, In response to Nub News questions about the terms agreed for her departure the council said: "Thurrock Council does not comment publicly on internal employment matters."

Informed sources within the council have told Nub News no severance agreement was negotitated with Ms Carpenter, nor have her legal fees incurred following her suspension in mid September been paid, though her departure is said to have been in line with the terms of her contract. That could mean she is given pay in lieu of notice - a figure that could be as high as £100,000.