PLANS to cut the number of corporate directors at Luton Borough Council from five to four have been slammed as “not enough” by the Liberal Democrats.
Luton Borough Council agreed on Tuesday to cut the number of corporate directors – who are paid between £111,000 and £122,000 – from five to four.
It is understood the roles of assistant chief executive and director of customer and corporate services have been merged to form a ‘director of commercial and transformation services’ post.
Lib Dem leader David Franks said the council was cutting too many front line jobs, and too few at the top end.
He also accused the council of “cheating” by listing only five current corporate directors when in fact it employs six. The sixth – director of public health – is funded jointly by the council and the NHS.
“They’ve cut the numbers of street cleaners, cut the youth service, are privatising care for the elderly,” he said. “Yet when it comes to corporate director level they decided to cut the numbers from six to five. We suggested they could easily go one further and cut down to four corporate directors and they refused.”
The director posts will be subject to another review next year, with the possibility of another director post being cut.
The Labour group responded by saying the Tory-Lib Dem government was to blame for the cuts.
Leader Hazel Simmons said: “What we need is to introduce gradual change and we have to be mindful that we have some very experienced department heads who deal with serious issues such as child protection.
“Our cautious and gradual approach to the cuts is much more logical and sensible than the Cllr Franks’ method of ‘get rid of them all now’.”