THE leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell, defended his chief executive’s salary of almost £190,000 at a public meeting on spending cuts in Abingdon last Thursday.

Mr Mitchell, was asked at the public meeting in the Guildhall if paying more than £100,000 salaries to managers could be justified.

The council’s chief executive, Joanna Simons, is the highest paid public servant in the county on £189,158 —earning more than Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Mitchell replied: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

“Our organisation is a big and complicated one and if you want to attract senior people, you need to pay a decent salary.

“We are cutting the number of managers — it will be thinner and leaner.”

During the debate, residents were told to expect deep cuts and job losses — £200m needs to be cut from a £1bn budget over the next five years.

Pressed about the anticipated effects of the cuts on rural communities, he responded: “We will have to look at evidence and we will have to look across the whole county.

“It will not be easy and none of us are looking forward to it.”

Margaret Gascoyne, a full- time carer for her 98-year-old mother, was concerned about how the cuts would affect the Abingdon Resource and Wellbeing Centre.

She said: “I am so grateful for the one day a week that she goes to the centre as it gives me about five hours to myself.”

The 65-year-old carer said that coming to the debate and listening to the council representatives had reassured her the cuts would be made sensibly.

Terry Boswell, of Abingdon Chamber of Commerce, asked if a diamond interchange for the A34 at Lodge Hill north of Abingdon was still a possibility.

The council’s cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, Ian Hudspeth, said that such a scheme would have to be Government-funded or financed by contributions from developers.