A NORTH-EAST council is investing £270,000 in a new management team following two critical reports on its services.

Chester-le-Street District Council was rated poor in an Audit Commission review in March, while its housing services won no stars from inspectors last year.

Roy Templeman was appointed chief executive in May to reverse the authority's fortunes.

This week, the council has placed newspaper adverts for the new people he wants to replace an interim management team.

A salary of £70,000 will be paid to each of the three new directors, with responsibility for community services, development services and resources, while an assistant chief executive will get £60,000.

The community services director will look after housing and community safety and the director of development's portfolio will cover environmental health, leisure services and planning.

The director of resources will have responsibility for finances, staffing and council buildings, while the assistant chief executive will oversee the implementation of a recovery plan.

Mr Templeman said the re-structuring involved shifting responsibilities between posts, but no new jobs would be created and there would be no compulsory redundancies.

He said he wanted to fill the posts to replace interim managers Christmas.

Mr Templeman said: "The new structure will be cheaper than having interim directors in place, but does involve higher rates of pay than previously."