THERE should be more accountability on handouts paid to executives leaving Basingstoke council, a group leader has said.

Councillor Ian Tilbury, leader of the Basingstoke and Deane Independents on the borough council, said there should be more accountability for top-paid council officers who leave and are paid large settlements.

It comes after the Gazette reported how Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council paid, on average, the highest amount of money in settlements, also known as 'golden handshakes', of any local authority in the country.

And at the end of last month, this newspaper also reported how there were five top executives from the borough council that were among the top-paid in the country.

Speaking to the Gazette, Cllr Tilbury said that he'd tried asking questions of the council's settlement policy before.

"You get these stock answers that this is nothing to do with you as councillors," he said.

"It is lots of money and they should be accountable. If you dare to question the management..."

In the 2018-19 financial year, over £200,000 was paid out in settlements to council executives. These went to the council’s former head of law and governance - Bhupinder Gill - and its executive director of borough development and deputy chief executive, Victor Nicholls.

As part of him stepping down from the role in November 2018, the borough council agreed to pay termination costs of £121,615 to Mr Gill.

The council also agreed to a so-called golden handshake to the value of £95,772 to Mr Nicholls, who left in December 2018.

And Cllr Tilbury said that more transparency was needed in the process.

"I think the problem is that there is a big issue when you are having to pay people a lot of money to go away," he continued.

"What has gone on at the council in recent years has cost us a fortune, and all we know is that we have given them a lot of money.

"We don't know why those people have gone and why they have been paid.

"This is becoming the norm. It is wrong when the council don't even know what the problems are.

"There is clearly a reserve [of cash] we don't know about."

Earlier this year, the centre-right think-tank The TaxPayers' Alliance blasted local authorities for their "golden goodbyes" - saying that it is tax payers who will end up funding them.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Head of Human Resources, Communications and Policy Sarah Cragg said: "The council never comments on employment matters concerning individual employees.

"Termination payments are made in accordance with the council’s adopted procedures and the law."