THE leader of Essex County Council has been criticised for apparently favouring a shake-up of local government with the scrapping of chief executive posts at district and borough councils across Essex.

Quoted in the Local Government Chronicle magazine Lord Hanningfield is said to have described attempts to encourage districts to co-operate on shared services solutions as akin to "herding cats".

He is further quoted as saying Essex County Council chief executive Joanna Killian would be "chief executive of the county council and of the 12 districts if we keep the two-tier system going".

Former Epping Forest District Council leader John Knapman told the Guardian the comments appeared to indicate that Lord Hanningfield is prepared to break an agreement that he forged between the county council and district councils at a leaders' meeting earlier this year.

Mr Knapman said: "The agreement was that the current three-tier' system of county, district and parish councils would remain and greater efficiencies would be found in their operation. For their part the district councils did not seek unitary status and this thereafter the existence of the county council."

He added: "In his latest utterance Lord Hanningfield questions the need for chief executives at district level. This was never discussed with the districts and seems to be a clumsy attempt by Essex to grab control of the districts. Given the degree of mutual co-operation prior to this article I'm surprised Lord Hanningfield should take this approach.

"Having waited until it is too late for district councils to apply for unitary status this grab for power through the back door is at best inappropriate and at worst smells of skulduggery."

The Local Government Chronicle article further quotes Lord Hanningfield as saying: "Our director of social care has 3,000 staff and earns about the same as a district chief executive. When you think of their workload compared to the director of adult social care, there's something wrong but obviously they want to protect their nice little jobs."

But Mr Knapman said: "His analogy between his head of social services and district chief executives is unworkable and given the financial problems caused by Essex County Council social services budget represents a real cause for concern.

"Personally I have grave doubt that the leaders of Essex County Council and his chief executive even know where Epping Forest is situated. My concerns are doubled by the fact that there is not a single portfolio holder in the county council cabinet who represents the Epping Forest district."

Lord Hanningfield has been unavailable to comment.