THE chief executive of Bournemouth council is set to leave his job - with a staggering £390,000 pay-off.

Some insiders at the Town Hall are said to be shocked at the golden handshake for Tony Williams, but the authority says it is a statutory amount. It adds up to around three years’ pay.

The Echo has been told by senior Conservatives that the relationship between Mr Williams and Conservative council leader John Beesley has become strained but the council says there has been “no disagreement” between the two.

Yesterday Mr Williams was ‘on leave’ although he only came back last week after four months off sick.

The issue has to go to a special council meeting next week where councillors will be asked to make the role of chief executive redundant.

Staff are being told today of his departure. The matter did not go to cabinet.

One town hall source told the Echo: “This is a massive sum and people are going bananas. This looks very damaging.

“How can you justify this in a time of austerity when you are closing down public toilets? There is a lot of anger about this.

“It also looks as this has been done in a huge hurry. Only a tiny handful of people know he has gone. This whole thing is going to make us look very bad.”

A special group meeting of the ruling Conservatives was held last night. Another senior Conservative source said: “This is a serious mess.”

The Echo also understands the issue has been raised at a national level, such is the concern about the way it has been handled

Mr Williams, who is on £125,000 a year, was promoted to the role of chief executive in 2011, succeeding Pam Donnellan.

As executive director for environment and the economy he had previously spearheaded the outsourcing process of council departments and was the lead officer on the failed surf reef project.

Last August, Mr Williams led the public launch of the local government restructure plans involving the abolition of all nine councils in Dorset and their replacement with two unitary authorities, one being Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

Ironically, the government is expected to announce tomorrow if the plan is likely to be approved.

Bournemouth council said the role of chief executive was to be made redundant in a time of cutbacks and further partnership working with Poole.

In a statement Mr Williams said: “I will be very sad to leave at such an exciting time.”

'No disagreement' between pair, says council 

ALTHOUGH the council said there was no disagreement between Cllr Beesley and Mr Williams, Conservative sources said there had been discussions about Cllr Beesley’s business, Hospitality Solutions. 

There is no suggestion that Cllr Beesley has done anything wrong or contravened any rules.

Proposals to demolish the derelict Belvedere Hotel to make way for a £40m hotel and apartments were passed in January.

The planning board agreed the scheme to build a 131-bed hotel with a sky bar and 66 residential flats.

Michael Bibring of Fresh Lime Developments told the Echo: “We have been open and transparent all the way with this and it is noted very clearly in the planning minutes that John Beesley did some work for us on this. He simply advised us in a professional capacity. We had a very strong team of planning consultants and we brought other people in and out as required and John was one.”

Mr Bibring said his company approached Hospitality Solutions.
At the planning meeting on January 23, the head of planning and regulation, Andrew England, said: “I can confirm that the applicant is a client of John Beesley who has been engaged as one of a number of consultants on the many issues which affect this site and the proposal. On every occasion when he has attended meetings with the officers he has always made it clear that he is acting in his professional capacity, and not in his capacity as a member of the Council. 

“Officers have always been clear as to his role, and I can confirm this is a completely separate appointment as leader of the council and has not affected the officers’ approaching any way.”

Mr Beesley promotes Hospitality Solutions by describing himself as “a highly experienced operator with a strongly developed instinct for identifying and solving problems.

“He can extend an unusually high degree of knowledge and understanding to most hotel, catering and leisure businesses.”

Cllr Beesley has been leader of Bournemouth council since 2012.

Q&A

When was he due to retire?

There is no set retirement age.

How was the figure of 390,000 arrived at?

This is the statutory entitlement under redundancy.

Who negotiated this figure on the council's part?

This is the statutory entitlement under redundancy.

Was the leader involved?

It is normal for the Leader and Deputy Leader to be involved in employment matters for senior roles of this nature of the Council, along with the Executive Team, Head of HR and Statutory Officers.  This case was no different.

How can this figure be justified in the current climate when the council is short of money?

Any costs associated with redundancy now are a statutory requirement and would have been incurred in any future redundancy situation.  Proceeding with redundancy now delivers a saving to Bournemouth of £164,000 per year, that would not otherwise be achieved.

Has there been a disagreement with the leader and the chief executive?

No

When does he go?

Subject to Full Council agreement, Tony’s last day would be 31st March 2017.

Who will take over in the interim?

The Deputy Chief Executive will undertake the necessary duties of Head of Paid Service on an interim basis, whilst the Council determines its longer-term arrangements, from a range of options currently being considered.