Over 80 town hall chiefs in region earn at least £100,000

Critics claimed council bosses had enjoyed "a very good recession" as it emerged the number earning more than Gordon Brown had risen from 19 to 31 in a single year.

Three councils in Yorkshire had at least ten employees with pay packages worth 100,000 or more in 2008-09, while across the country 1,250 employees collected six-figure sums – up 14 per cent on the previous year, according to the "town hall rich list" produced by campaign group the Taxpayers' Alliance.

According to the study, Hull City Council chief executive Kim Ryley received the biggest remuneration package of 196,298, although he has since left and his replacement is on 160,000.

Paul Rogerson, chief executive of the region's biggest local authority, Leeds City Council, earned between 191,158 and 196,158 – a 2.5 per cent increase on the previous year.

John O'Connell, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Town hall bosses have had a very good recession at taxpayers' expense. More of them than ever are earning massive amounts, and they even enjoyed a healthy pay rise while everyone else was suffering pay freezes, cuts or redundancies."

The report comes amid growing scrutiny of council pay, with local government likely to face severe cuts in the next few years.

New rules will require councils to publish details of how many employees are earning over 50,000, including naming individuals on salaries of over 150,000.

Tories say the name, title and salary package of every senior official earning over 60,000 should be published online.