A former chief executive of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council was today named in a list of individuals who received the highest council payouts last year.

Robin Hooper, who left the borough council in December 2007, received a total remuneration of £335,848, according to figures released to the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

Mr Hooper received the second highest council remuneration package on the list after John Foster, who left Wakefield Metropolitan District Council as chief executive in March last year with a payout totalling £545,000.

Details of Mr Hooper’s remuneration package, obtained in a Freedom of Information request, showed his payout included gross pay of £87,616, expenses worth £36, mileage totalling £634, and a redundancy of £168,030.

He also received compensation for loss of employment of £35,846, payment in lieu of notice worth £29,205, payment in lieu of untaken leave totalling £4,481, and damages for release of information totalling £10,000.

Research by The Taxpayers’ Alliance showed the number of council officials earning more than £100,000 a year had soared by 27 per cent since last year.

The group’s policy analyst, Maria Fort, said: “Councils must start tightening their belts – we’re in a recession and many of these rewards are financially unsustainable and morally indefensible.”

John Ransford, chief executive of the Local Government Association, today defended the high pay rates but said councils must be able to show pay for senior officers is “reasonable”, after the research showed more than 1,000 are now paid six-figure salaries.

He said: “Many councils have bigger budgets than FTSE 100 companies and to get the brightest people to deliver the best services for local people they need to pay a competitive wage.

“Unlike the private sector people can show whether they think this is wrong by voting at the ballot box.”

By John Kirk