Bournemouth's leadership shake-up gets the nod

If the move is passed at the next full council meeting, the borough's head of paid service Jane Portman will take on the new title, while her statutory roles as head of adult and children's social services will be transferred to Sue Ross, service director of children’s social care.

Members of the audit and governance committee gave the plans the green light at a meeting on Thursday.

Ms Portman took over the head of paid service role after former chief executive Tony Williams was made redundant in March, amid some controversy over the speed of his departure and whether his role had truly been made redundant, which entitled him to a sizeable payout.

Committee member Cllr Simon Bull, who is standing in the General Election for the Green Party, said he had compared the roles of chief executive and managing director and they were different.

He said: "There has to be a clear distinction otherwise the position can't have been redundant. The responsibilities have changed between the two posts.

He said the board had a remit to examine the process by which the council had handled the redundancy.

"We were reviewing what was put in place to serve the legal requirements, it all seemed to be in order," he said.

"I am still concerned with the haste with with the decision was made."

Cllr Bull has written to request an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the decision to make Mr Williams redundant in light of allegations made by former Christchurch MP and current candidate Christopher Chope in parliament.

These concerned an alleged dispute between council leader John Beesley and the chief executive over the former's business activities.

The council says Ms Portman will retain "strategic oversight" over social services in her new role.

Other candidates standing in Bournemouth West are Conservative Conor Burns, the Liberal Democrats' Phil Dunn, Jason Halsey of the Pirate Party UK and David Stokes of Labour.