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The chief education officer of Conwy Council is to get a £40,000 redundancy pay-out, for his retirement.

Guto Bebb, MP for Aberconwy, has slammed the decision to give Geraint James the taxpayer funded handout, as it was his own decision to retire.

Mr James, who was given a standing ovation by councillors at his final cabinet meeting last month, had made known his decision to retire this summer back in September 2013.

His impending departure was chosen by Conwy as an opportunity to review the whole structure of education in the authority, with education merging with social services.

This means his role as chief education officer is being made redundant and, after seeking advice from a specialist lawyer, the council was told it must treat his departure on August 31 as a redundancy.

Mr Bebb commended Mr James’s service to education in Conwy. But in a letter to constituents he wrote: “I have a huge concern about this ‘redundancy’ payment of some £40,000, particularly at a time when council tax has been rising at 5% per annum and lollipop ladies are being removed from rural villages.

“I do not share the chief executive’s certainty that this is a redundancy situation and certainly from a moral point of view I believe it is wrong.”

He added: “I believe the decision is flawed and our councillors have been insufficiently robust in questioning why a decision of a senior post-holder to retire, described as such in council documents from November 2013 onwards, has now resulted in a £40,000 redundancy package being approved at a time when services are being cut and council tax is being increased.”

Conservative MP Mr Bebb continued: “I think Geraint James has done an effective job, but I was aware he was retiring.

“And yet suddenly we find that the council have decided that his position has been made redundant and they’re finding a significant sum of money to compensate him for his redundancy.”

Chief executive Iwan Davies said savings from merging education and social services would be just less than £400,000 over five years.

A Conwy Council spokeswoman confirmed the role of chief education officer was being made redundant.

She said: “We cannot comment on an individual employee’s case.”