Gloucestershire County Council has approved the appointment of its new top boss Jo Walker who will earn £189,000 a year – almost £17k more than the Prime Minister.

Shire Hall voted unanimously to ratify her appointment as chief executive at a meeting of full this week.

They have appointed Ms Walker to the full time post with a salary of £189k per year.

She will earn more than eight times more than the lowest paid staff at the authority and more than Prime Minister Keir Starmer who is entitled to a salary of £172,153.

The council says she has been appointed on the Local Government Association chief executive terms and conditions.

And her salary is within the range advertised for the role and benchmarked against other comparator councils.

Council leader Stephen Davies said it was an incredibly important decision and the authority had gone through a thorough process in appointing her.

“A total of 22 people applied for the position, nine strong candidates were longlisted and five shortlisted, according to the council” he said.

“One of the things that was important to me is that it was completely cross party. It needed to be so.

“We had a good lot of applicants at the very beginning of the process and I would like to thank them for the work they put in.

“But on the final day we whittled it down to three who were all considered appointable to the role.

“That is an important measure of the success of the candidates in this process.

“I am happy to propose that there was a unanimous decision to appoint Jo Walker as our next chief executive and we do need to put that to a vote as council and I look for your support in that.”

Ms Walker started her career at Gloucestershire County Council as a graduate trainee and worked her way up to become director for highways, transport and waste and then finance and corporate services director, before leaving to become chief executive at North Somerset Council.

“It is a great privilege to have been offered this amazing job, it is an exceptional role in an incredible county,” she said.

“As my home for the past 36 years, Gloucestershire already holds a very special place in my heart and having already spent more than 30 years of my working life at Gloucestershire County Council, so does the council.

“I have a deep commitment to the county and its people.

“I can’t wait to get started and do all I can to support the council, working alongside all elected members and staff to continue delivering for our communities and build on the strengths we have to achieve the shared ambition we have for Gloucestershire – reducing health inequalities, boost skills, attracting investment and jobs, whilst delivering great services for our residents.

“I am clear that we will not improve outcomes for residents alone – I am committed to building strong working relationships with our partners, across the public and private sector, to make sure we always do our collective best for Gloucestershire.”