Ludlow Council criticised over new job vacancies

Plans by town council chiefs in Ludlow to take on four members of staff with a combined salary of more than £60,000 have come under fire.

Ludlow town councillor Jennifer Leyton-Purrier said it was wrong for the authority to be appointing extra staff at a time of belt-tightening. She has threatened to report the decision to local government minister Eric Pickles. But the authority has defended its position.

The town council is looking for a new market manager, a groundsman, a toilet cleaner and a head of direct labour – with a combined annual salary for the posts of up to £63,000.

But town clerk Veronica Calderbank said only one of the roles was new and all the positions were necessary to cope with ongoing projects.

She also said the town council was currently employing fewer people than in 2005.

She said: "It has been said we are employing four new people, but three of these posts are replacements and only one is a new job, for a cleaner to look after the toilets we took control of back in April.

"In my opinion, we are doing really well and it's just a shame that certain councillors don't appreciate how good we are at the council ."

Ms Calderbank claimed Mrs Leyton-Purrier had only attended five meetings in the last year and was talking about issues which had been discussed in detail at meetings she had failed to attend.

But Mrs Leyton-Purrier, who represents the Gallows Bank ward, reiterated her stance that the appointments were unjustified.

She revealed she had already written to Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow to voice her concerns and now plans to write to the Government to ask for its views.

Mrs Leyton-Purrier said: "All these posts could be done by part-timers and it doesn't warrant these expenses.

"They haven't got any additional responsibility yet under the Localism Bill, so why make appointments?

"I'm going to be pushing this council for a 40 per cent cut in its next budget, rather than advertising for jobs.

"There are lots of silly expenses also going on which we need to cut down."

Mrs Leyton-Purrier said she attended as many meetings as possible, but had to carefully balance her council and business commitments.

By Danny Carden