A MOVE to spend £420,000 on more management staff at Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) has been slammed.

The spend was approved by cabinet last Wednesday (15th April) to support the delivery of services across the county.

The money, taken from the invest to redesign fund, will be used to pay for five new members of staff including: a marketing role, a volunteers' co-ordinator, an external investment post, and two programme managers.

In a report published by MCC, it says investment in specialist skill sets and expertise is critical.

Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, leader of the Labour group, said he didn't know how the spend could be justified in such austere times. He said: "I remember the Conservatives criticising Labour for wanting to employ one staff member to help ease the housing crisis in Monmouthshire.

"On the day the Tory Cabinet agreed to cut £120k from the children's additional learning needs budget, we learn they want to spend nearly half a million pounds on five new management staff.

"Monmouthshire taxpayers deserve to know this and assess for themselves, when services are being cut, whether this is money well spent."

MCC's cabinet disagreed with Councillor Batrouni and said the redesign of services and the hiring of more staff was vital in getting the best out of MCC's financial resources, particularly when facing large cuts.

Leader of MCC, Councillor Peter Fox, said: "How does an authority position itself for such a change in future? Throwing money constantly in certain services won't give us the long term sustainable future we need.

"We need to invest in a way that can really change the shape of certain things to maintain a sustainable future for our services."