New Bristol City Council executive director approved

The appointment of one of Bristol City Council’s new executive directors, with a salary of £165,000, has been officially approved.

But councillors were not allowed to comment on Mike Jackson’s new role as the head of paid services – or his six-figure wage packet – during an extraordinary meeting at City Hall on Tuesday.

This is despite requests from some members of opposition parties, who argued that the “democratic process had to be followed”.

Mike Jackson will take on the new role

Chairing the meeting, Bristol lord mayor Lesley Alexander told the chamber that debate was not necessary because the decision had already been unanimously agreed by the council’s cross-party human resources committee and simply needed the full council’s final stamp of approval.

Gary Hopkins, leader of the Lib Dem group, requested that councillors be given the opportunity to debate the matter because of the importance of the position and high salary.

“I sit on the HR committee so I know the decision was unanimous, but it is important for people to be able to pass comment if they wish,” he said.

Gary Hopkins argued councillors should have had chance to have their say on the appointment

And fellow Lib Dem councillor Tim Kent agreed, saying: “the democratic process had to be followed”.

Jackson’s role is the first of a number of new senior appointments at Bristol City Council amid a radical shake-up of its internal structure, with the ultimate aim of saving money in these cash-strapped times.

As part of the re-structuring process, the £160,000 position of chief executive was scrapped, along with a number of other roles.

The council will now be run by a group of four directors, who will work closely with mayor Marvin Rees.

Rees announced the decision to scrap the chief executive role after the resignation of Anna Klonowski (pictured)

But Jackson’s £165,000 salary has been called into question by some members of the public.

During the meeting, resident Oliver Fortune asked how the council could justify paying one man £165,000 when council services, such as libraries, were being cut.

“That figure is seven times the average Bristol salary and is so out of touch with many of us trying to survive on stagnant salaries in this city,” he said.

But Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said although the salary seemed high to most people it was actually similar to other local authorities.

He added: “We have the lowest average pay for this role across the core cities and our recent senior management restructure has saved us £800,000.

“But this is a billion pound organisation with over 5,000 employees, which is responsible for a city of half-a-million people.

“These top four positions we have are incredibly important and the brutal reality is that we wouldn’t be able to find people with the expertise to do the job if we didn’t offer a competitive salary.

“We believe we have hired someone with the skills and experience who can deliver for the people of Bristol.

“Someone who can ensure this authority remains financially viable, because we don’t want to go the way of Northamptonshire Council.”

Last month Government inspectors recommended that Northamptonshire County Council be broken up and replaced with two new smaller authorities following a damning report which revealed widespread financial and management failures.

Kate Wilson is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.

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