District councillors on the Shotley peninsula are divided on giving senior Babergh officers a large pay increase.

Councillor Alastair McCraw, Brantham ward, voted in favour of increasing pay for the senior leadership team by more than 20%, while Ganges ward member Derek Davis, voted against the motion, which was lost 17 against and eight for the pay rise, at Babergh's full council meeting on Tuesday night.

The two other peninsula ward members, Jane Gould and Mary McLaren, were both absent from the meeting after previously sending their apologies.

The item was pulled from the Mid Suffolk council agenda at zero hour last night, after the defeat earlier in the week left the possibility that the two councils could make two different decisions on pay levels for staff they share.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk district councils, while remaining separate authorities in their own right, share a workforce.

The full council meetings of both this week had been recommended to approve a new pay policy for the chief executive, directors and assistant directors after an independent report by the East of England Local Government Association declared that pay for senior roles was "some way behind what the market would suggest are the appropriate and necessary levels of pay to recruit and retain staff".

That policy would see the chief executive pay bracket change from the current £118,767-£138,202 to £140,000-£160,000; director level increase from £82,170-£96,804 to £100,000-£120,000; and assistant director salaries rise from £59,658-£74,292 to £78,000-£90,000.

But furious councillors at Babergh on Tuesday night rejected the proposals, citing the perception from residents as a key problem.

Cabinet member, Cllr Davis who's Ganges ward covers Shotley and Erwarton, was also concerned at the further disparity between the senior leadership team's pay increase and the rest of the officers.

"While I believe the assistant directors and chef executive deserve as much money as they can get, they do a fabulous job," said Cllr Davis. "However, I can't in all god conscious vote for this because the gap between the top and the other officers would be extraordinary in this tome. That will be more than 10 per cent increase, while the junior officers have only had a one per cent increase. I just think it is wrong.

"Also look at how it will be perceived among our residents."

Fellow cabinet members Cllr McCraw and leader John Ward voted for the pay rise fearing officers would leave, and there would be difficulty in recruiting the right calibre replacements.

Cllr Ward said that while he understood the concerns it "will cost a lot more if we don't do this" because it would increase reliance on costly interim payments, and stressed that it was because "we haven't addressed this properly over the past 10 years".

Cllr McCraw said: "One interim would cost the same as a chef executive and we don't like interims, we have said that may times.

"You can't call this (pay increase) morally wrong, this is the real world and we need to pay the labourer worthy of their hire or we won't have the decent labourers.

"If we don't do it now then we will in short while and by then we may have lost some very good, experienced officers, and they will tell against our services."

The decision left the problematic situation on Thursday night for Mid Suffolk where it could have agreed to the new policy while Babergh had refused it, and left uncertainty over how the situation would progress.

Instead, the item was pulled from the agenda for Mid Suffolk to prevent that situation, and discussions will take place over how to move forward.

The review was commissioned after an attempt to hire a new assistant director for communities and wellbeing failed to generate suitable candidates.

Michelle Kirk, director of the East of England LGA said the authorities were "behind the market in all levels of seniority".

According to the figures, the financial impact would be £47,856 more annually than current levels.

The pay policy was last reviewed in 2011 for those roles and several councillors said if it was to be done it needed a review of all staff pay boundaries.

You can see the whole debate on Babergh's YouTube channel here, starting at - 2:11:05