Pay rise on the cards for Park boss (From Western Telegraph)

Pay rise on the cards for Park boss

One of Pembrokeshires top public sector bosses could be in line for a big pay rise.

Nic Wheeler, chief executive of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, is currently paid between £50,000 and £60,000 a year.

His salary was to have been reviewed on Wednesday, at an extraordinary meeting of the Park Authority, but members decided they needed the advice of independent consultants and suspended their decision.

Pembrokeshire County Council followed the same route last year and its chief executive saw his salary rise significantly.

Last year Bryn Parry-Jones was earning £87,900, but pay consultants estimated that a senior manager with similar responsibilities in the private sector would be paid £118,628. Performance bonuses, it was calculated, would inflate this figure to £134,073.

Although the exact pay rise was never publicly disclosed, it is understood that the authority followed the advice of the consultants.

Nic Wheeler could now be in line for a similar salary increase. The outcome is also likely to remain secret.

The extraordinary meeting met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss his salary.

A statement issued after the meeting indicated that members had decided to engage external consultants in order to obtain independent advice in relation to the chief executives remuneration. No date has been fixed for the consultants report.

A £2.7 million slice of the authoritys £4.8 million annual budget comes from the Welsh Assembly, £900,000 from Pembrokeshire County Council and £1.9 million in fees and charges and grants from partner organisations.

Nic Wheelers current salary was last discussed in 1996 following local government re-organisation. It is relatively modest compared to some of the countys top earners in the public sector.

Stuart Fletcher, chief executive of the Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust, gets £92,000 in his annual pay packet.

Terence Grange, chief constable of Dyfed- Powys Police, is paid between £79,620 and £91,059.

The salaries of local politicians are much lower. Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Jackie Lawrence gets an annual salary of £49,822 and Welsh Assembly members are paid £35,437 a year.