RE: the salary of the next chief executive of Pembrokeshire County Council.

It seems that the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales has recommended that the salary for the next chief executive of Pembrokeshire County Council should be in the region of £130,000.

The obviously excessive salary of the former chief executive was brought about by the ruling Independent Group councillors led by the former Leader.

It started some years ago when the salary was debated by the whole council.

At the time, as a Labour county councillor, I pointed out that the salary was already in the excess of recommendations from an employee’s group of which the chief executive was a member, but my comments were ignored by the ruling group.

To avoid further questions, the ruling group, with their overall majority, voted that a representative small committee should have the mandate on the salary decisions and that continues to the present time.

On one occasion I attended the group meeting as an observer.

At that time some official in County Hall – obviously with the approval of the Council Leader – had asked an independent private body in London to advise them on an appropriate salary. However, under questioning, they revealed that the council had settled – not for an independent opinion but for a justification of a salary of £150,000. It was no surprise that the majority of the committee voted for that figure.

And so it continues to the present day with the people of Pembrokeshire still voting for councillors who support a biased system.

JOHN COLE,

Westhill Avenue,

Milford Haven