THERE is merit in the adage that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

And, in the case of council chiefs, they are certainly not being paid peanuts.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that council chief executives are being paid up to £174,000 - nearly three times the salary of an MP - with many being awarded inflation- busting pay rises.

Many will be shocked by those kind of figures at a time of inflation-busting council tax increases around the country.

But running a local authority is a huge responsibility. Councils are major employers, spending enormous sums of public money, and that demands that the best candidates are recruited for the top jobs.

In attracting managers of the right calibre, the public sector has to compete with the private sector and sky-high salaries are the result of those market forces. That is the real world.

But what it also means is that the public has every right to know how much council chiefs are being paid, to question the levels of remuneration and to demand performances which justify the rewards.

The appointment of a new chief executive for the forthcoming super-sized unitary authority for County Durham will be very interesting indeed - as will the salary on offer for that role.

Council chiefs are doing very nicely. We expect them to prove they are worth it by driving their organisations forward so that quality of life improvements are delivered to those paying their wages.