Gardening leave on full pay for £125,000-a-year town hall boss

Peter Simpson has been the top civil servant at both Hambleton and Richmondshire district councils for the past four years.

But the Yorkshire Post understands there has been a breakdown in relations between Mr Simpson and the leadership of Hambleton District Council, prompting the shock announcement.

Staff at both authorities were notified by email on Friday afternoon that Mr Simpson has been put on paid leave with immediate effect.

Richmondshire District Council’s leader, Coun John Blackie, expressed disappointment that neither he nor his deputy, Coun Mick Griffiths, had been consulted on the move because Mr Simpson is an employee of the Hambleton authority.

Coun Blackie was adamant his council has no issue with Mr Simpson, and paid tribute to the chief executive’s efforts to cut costs.

Both councils have been at the forefront of a national drive for local authorities to merge services. A total of £2.6m in savings have been made in the past three years as services ranging from refuse collection to IT provision have been shared.

Coun Blackie said Mr Simpson has made a “massive contribution” and the chief executive’s “talent and competency have never been in any doubt in Richmondshire”.

But Coun Blackie added: “It is very disappointing that we were not consulted on the decision (to place Mr Simpson on gardening leave). The concordat between the councils never envisaged such a situation, and we must ensure more coherent partnership arrangements are put in place in the future. Whatever has happened, the shared services working is the only game in town and it is one that we remain totally committed to.”

But the revelations of Mr Simpson’s gardening leave nonetheless hark back to one of the most turbulent periods in Richmondshire District Council’s history.

A previous chief executive for Richmondshire, Harry Tabiner, stepped down in April 2007 after the authority was plunged into turmoil over a bullying scandal.

A group of councillors was found guilty of bullying officers in a report by local government troubleshooter Richard Penn. But a Standards Board of England inquiry found no action needed to be taken against those responsible as it was deemed they had not breached the national code of conduct.

Although the council had commissioned Mr Penn’s probe, councillors agreed in 2007 to declare his findings “null and void”.

Mr Tabiner was one of five senior staff to take early retirement. His successor, interim chief executive Jack Neal, left at the end of July 2007 for family reasons. Mr Simpson, who has been at Hambleton since 1997, took on the role of joint chief executive on a temporary basis in January 2008, before he was appointed permanently.

A Hambleton District Council spokeswoman maintained Richmondshire’s leaders did not have to be consulted about the decision to put Mr Simpson on gardening leave as he is not formally one of their employees. She also stressed he had not been suspended from his post.

Hambleton District Council’s leader Neville Huxtable confirmed Mr Simpson is on “paid leave of absence from work” and will not be carrying out duties for either authority. The authority’s deputy chief executive, Phil Morton, and his Richmondshire counterpart, Tony Clark, have temporarily assumed Mr Simpson’s responsibilities. Coun Huxtable is due to make a statement to a full council meeting today.