A NEW top level post could be created by Bromsgrove District Council as part of a management shake-up costing an extra £90,000 a year - the Advertiser/Messenger can exclusively reveal.

The proposal is for a new deputy corporate director to join a revamped management team.

It also calls for the heads of a number of departments to be given a pay boost of between £2,000 and £3,000 and points out the salary of corporate director and district secretary Bob Lewis is "significantly lower" than others in the county.

Mr Lewis has prepared the report for a meeting of the council's executive cabinet scheduled for today.

It is being put forward after the Audit Commission's Corporate Governance Inspectors recommended plans for a smaller management team should be in place by the end of this month.

Mr Lewis says he can see nothing in the recommendation that points to actually cutting the number of heads of service.

Instead, he suggests a slimmed-down core team of seven officers instead of 12, supplemented by others when required and concentrating more on strategic planning and performance.

A wholesale review of management would have a "disruptive and destabilising effect", his report says, and the strengths of the current officers could be used as a foundation for improvement.

He also suggests his own role as corporate director and district secretary has too wide a "span of responsibility" and proposes a deputy corporate director in a newly-created post with a starting salary of £55,000 plus an essential car users allowance, at a total cost of £70,000 a year.

The new officer would support the corporate director in strategic planning and E-Government, among other tasks.

He suggests the head of IT should get a rise of £2,000 a year to "reflect the strategic importance" of IT developments.

He also suggests the heads of finance, planning, environmental health and leisure should be redesignated as directors and each get a rise of £3,000 a year.

These four directors would join him and his deputy, together with the head of housing, on the new management team.

The cost would amount to approximately £90,000 in a complete year, the report says, but may be reduced over time.

Mr Lewis also raises the point that his own salary is "significantly lower" than the average paid to other district council chief executives in Worcestershire.

Council leader Dennis Norton (Con - Norton) said the report had been prepared following the Corporate Governance inspection and would be fully discussed at the Executive Cabinet meeting.

Labour leader Peter McDonald (Uffdown and Waseley) said he would be scrutinising a copy of the report very carefully and asking for explanations.

"Any suggestion of an increase in salaries after the auditor's report would be flying in the face of sanity," he said.

"It showed we were one of the worst authorities in the country. Now they want a massive wage rise when the council tax has just gone up by 28 per cent. It's insulting to the residents of Bromsgrove."

He said he could not believe a new post was being suggested when it cost £70,000 to "sack" the former chief executive and treasurer David Bryant because the council did not need so many chief officers.

Bob Lewis said the document was exempt from publication and he had no comment to make on his report.