THE Forest of Dean District Council's two strategic directors are listed among Britain's 3,097 council employees receiving remuneration packages at or in excess of £100,000.

According to the Taxpayers' Alliance, which this week published its annual 'Town Hall Rich List' for 2010-11, the officers receive £109,441 (£103,773 in the previous year) and £107,036 (102,100 previously) respectively.

However the Forest council says the two officers – Peter Hibberd and Sue Pangbourne – represent good value for money as they have jointly taken on the additional role of chief executive.

The Alliance says its figures show the council has given increments (5.46 per cent and 4.83 per cent respectively) to both officers at a time when many private as well as public salaries have been frozen, and when administrations have been under pressure to save costs and as far as possible freeze council tax demands.

The Alliance says the remuneration packages are made up of three main elements, the highest paid Forest strategic director getting £84,229 in salary including fees and allowances, expense allowance of £196 and £25,016 in pension contributions.

The larger administrations in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire have higher numbers of people with £100,000-plus packages – 10 in Gloucestershire (top earner chief executive Peter Bungard with £197,317, £195,561 in the previous year), and five for Monmouthshire with its chief executive on £135,493 (previous year £119,703, an increase of more than 13 per cent).

The Forest council employees are relatively low in number on a national list of salaries which sees several councils with long lists of big earners including 250 people in lead roles taking home £250,000-plus. The largest in England was £439,071 for chief executive of Kent County Council Peter Gilroy, and the largest in Wales, £195,164, went to Bryn Parry-Jones of Pembrokeshire County Council.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers will be astonished that so many council employees are getting such a generous deal while everyone else in the public sector is facing a pay freeze.

"As millions of voters across the country prepare for local council elections, it is vital that they can make an informed choice about which local authorities are delivering valuer for money.

"The Town Hall Rich List shows that while councils insist cuts can only mean pressure on frontline services, some clearly have cash in the bank when it comes to paying their own senior staff.

"These council executives must ensure they have the moral authority to lead necessary spending cuts. In many cases that will mean taking a pay cut themselves. Households have seen their council tax bills double over the past decade and deserve better value."

In response, the Forest of Dean District Council says that in July 2009, the salary for the directors was increased (to £84,229 p.a. and £82,229 p.a.) to acknowledge the fact that they had been covering the role of the vacant chief executive post since April 2009. The salary for the two posts has remained the same since this date.

The Taxpayers' Alliance are counting Employer's pension contributions as part of the 'remuneration package'. These contributions do not go to the individual. They are allocated against all members of staff in the pension fund on a percentage basis (set by an actuary) to cover the council's pension responsibilities for past, present and future staff.

Leader of the council Cllr Patrick Molyneux said: "I believe the council has two excellent strategic directors who are extremely good value for money as they are delivering in tough times and have teams of well motivated staff who are working hard to deliver a wide range of projects and maintain the great services that this council provides, all within a reduced budget.

"In July 2011 Full Council deleted the vacant chief executive post and confirmed it wished the two strategic directors to continue covering this role. This arrangement is saving the Council more than £100,000 a year, compared to the previous structure of chief executive and two strategic directors. Overall, senior management at the council has been reduced by over 30 per cent since 2008 so the team here works extremely hard to improve and maintain services with far fewer people."