TEST Valley Borough Council has been branded “out of control” by angry residents and business owners after awarding its staff a third successive two and a half per cent pay rise.

Councillors approved the below inflation increase for all staff, including £117,000-a-year chief executive Roger Tetstall (pictured), at a general purposes committee meeting last week.

The rise, which follows on from similar two and a half per cent hikes in 2015 and 2016, is set to cost the council more than £400,000.

The move has sparked anger among some Test Valley taxpayers, who have seen the authority’s annual tax demand rise by almost eight per cent over the past two years.

Business owners have also questioned the hike, with some claiming they have not been able to offer a pay increase to their own staff for over five years.

John O’Connell, the chief executive of national pressure group, the TaxPayers’ Alliance, was one of those to question the council’s latest pay increase.

He said: “When, as a country, we are still not living within our means, across the board rises are difficult to justify.

“Council tax has gone up in England by around 60 per cent in the last 20 years and people want that money to go towards helping fund front-line services and not into the pockets of council staff.”

Another to express anger was former Hampshire county councillor and owner of Broadway Garage, Tony Hooke.

He said: “It is absolutely outrageous in this climate. Nurses are struggling to get a one per cent pay rise, but what have the council done to warrant such a rise?

“Look what they have done to the town centre. Shop after shop is closing but they are giving themselves a two and a half per cent pay rise.

“We are in a climate where my staff are pretty much on the same salary they were seven years ago. These people don’t live in the real world.”

Ron Wood, owner of town centre barber shop, Cut Above, agreed, adding: “How they can warrant giving themselves that pay rise when most shops are struggling to stay in business is beyond me.”

Despite the outrage, the rise remains under the national inflation rate of 2.9 per cent and 0.5 per cent less than the three per cent requested by union, Unison.

It will also mean that the council’s lowest paid staff, currently on £16,072 a year, will continue to get above the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended living wage, which is currently £8.45 an hour.

This is not to be confused with the National Living Wage, which is currently £7.50 an hour.

A spokesperson for Unison said: “We welcome Test Valley’s commitment to pay at least the real living wage at the bottom of the pay scales for 2017. This is an independently-calculated amount based on the minimum that employees and their families actually need to live on.

“Whilst our members have accepted the two and a half per cent, we point out that from 2010 to 2016 our members in Test Valley lost 13.1 per cent of their wages in real terms, as cost of living increases were not been matched by pay awards.

“Since 2014 Test Valley has proactively tried to reverse this real terms decline in take home pay, which we welcome.”

As well as the increase for low paid workers, the hike means larger salary increases for the highest earners.

The authority’s top 13 senior officials, including heads of services and the council’s chief executive, Roger Tetstall, will pocket £20,000 between them.

Mr Tetstall alone is set for an extra £3,000 a year as a result of the two and a half per cent increase, meaning his annual salary will have risen by almost £9,000 over the last three years.

North West Hampshire Labour chairman, Andy Fitchet, said while he supported pay rises for lower paid staff, he was concerned about the “large discrepancy” in the council’s wage bill.

Mr Fitchet said: “’We support TVBC continuing to pay their staff a living wage.

“Those on the lowest pay scales have suffered a large cut in real terms over the last few years.

“With a two and a half per cent pay rise, that is still in reality a one per cent pay cut for those on the lowest wages.

“However, I am concerned about the large discrepancy between executive pay and ordinary workers at TVBC.”

Despite the opposition, Test Valley Borough Council leader Phil North has defended the rise, claiming it will help the council retain its “high performing staff”.

He said: “Our staff, along with many others, have seen an erosion in the ‘real’ value of their earnings over the recent years of pay restraint.

“Over the past 12 months, we have experienced difficulties in recruiting. This resulted in an underspend on our wage bill last year of more than £360,000.

“Without good quality staff, we would struggle to maintain quality of services.

“If we fail to offer competitive salaries this will undoubtedly impact the quality of our workforce and we risk losing existing employees as well as struggling to recruit.”