DETAILS have emerged of the £390,000 pay-off being given to the chief executive of Bournemouth council after his job was suddenly put forward for redundancy.

The Daily Echo revealed yesterday that Tony Williams – who had been off sick for four months – was on leave while councillors were being asked to abolish his job.

The Echo has since learned that his package includes £63,000 in statutory redundancy pay, £85,000 on his contractual six months’ pay in lieu of notice and “associated costs”, and the early release of pension funds, costing £246,000.

The council says all these payments are contractual obligations, the Echo understands.

An extraordinary meeting of Bournemouth council is to be held next week. The Conservative group – which holds 51 of the authority’s 54 seats – met on Monday night and backed the move, but it is understood council leader Cllr John Beesley faced questioning about the sudden announcement.

A source said members felt there was no alternative.

The source said: “Councillors are confused as to why we are in this position, but we are in this position and this was the best decision that could be made.”

The move comes ahead of a government decision on whether a new council should be created to cover Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. An announcement could come today.

Long-serving Independent councillor Anne Rey said she sympathised with residents who were seeing services cut while Mr Williams was paid off.

“If he’s got a contract with local government, then we haven’t got a choice, we have to pay him up to his retirement age,” she said.

“I know that contractually there are certain things they have to do, but £390,000 seems a hell of a lot of money to me – and it also does to staff who are going to be made redundant in the future because of going in with Poole and Christchurch.”

Mr Williams’ deputy, Jane Portman, is standing in for him at the moment.

There had been speculation that Poole council’s chief executive, Andrew Flockhart, might act as joint chief executive for both authorities.

A statement from Borough of Poole said the councils were “committed to working more closely together” but added: “Clearly, it is for councillors in Bournemouth to determine the longer-term arrangements for their council. In the meantime, we look forward to working with the deputy chief executive Jane Portman.”