The West of England’s new super-council has been accused of ‘poaching’ top-level staff from nearby authorities. A senior North Somerset Council politician said managers were being “targeted” and offered “piles of money” to join the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).

But WECA, which is made up of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Councils, along with Regional Mayor, Tim Bowles, insists all recruitment was done above board.

A spokeswoman for the fledgling organisation said roles were advertised publicly and salaries were paid at equivalent levels to B&NES Council. In the coming months, three members will have switched from North Somerset to WECA.

At a North Somerset Council meeting on 24th July, Executive Member for HR, Cllr David Pasley, said: “We’ve been subjected to what I’d almost describe as targeting by WECA; this is an organisation that relies on Government funding and isn’t reliant like us on Council Tax. It seems they have endless funds.

“They have been identifying the cream of our Senior Management team, which is very frustrating, including our Chief Executive, and making offers which, quite frankly, our Senior Officers would be mad to refuse. We can’t compete with that, because we’ve got to keep our budgets down. I think it’s quite shameful how we, as a small authority, are being targeted.”

North Somerset Council’s former Chief Executive, Mike Jackson, left for Bristol City Council at the end of June. In response to opposition councillors, Cllr Pasley said his comment that Mr Jackson had gone to WECA was not a slip of the tongue, and that he meant Mr Jackson would be working on WECA projects from the city authority.

A spokesperson for WECA said: “WECA follows an open and transparent recruitment process; roles are advertised and anyone can apply.

“We appoint on merit and experience – the salaries we offer are benchmarked against our council partners in the region, and our pay scales mirror those of Bath and North East Somerset Council. We have one member of staff from North Somerset Council currently on our books, with two more joining in the autumn.”

Cllr Pasley made the comments in response to a question by Liberal Democrat councillor, John Crockford-Hawley, about why the authority was losing some of its top staff.

WECA was signed into life at the beginning of 2017. It has been given powers and money devolved from central government to oversee large-scale infrastructure and transport projects in the West of England. North Somerset Council voted not to join.

Jack Pitts