PAY rises for senior council staff have been approved, despite union protests and resident objections.

Dorset County councillors voted marginally in favour of the hike, which could potentially see a salary jump £27,000.

It has been labelled an 'ill-timed, ill conceived and ill thought-out' decision, as the council recently cut buses and youth centres.

Heads of service are currently paid between £63,348 and £79,714 per year.

The new pay structure would mean heads of service are paid a chief officer salary of £80,500 to £85,000 (Band 4) or £86,500 to £91,000 (Band 3).

If a head of service was paid at the lower end of current rates and then the higher end of the new rates, they would be in for a £27,000 pay rise.

The rise was approved by a majority of 18 votes to 15, with two councillors abstaining.

It has been condemned by workers' unions, who staged a demonstration outside County Hall before the meeting.

Leader of the council, Cllr Robert Gould, spoke of the need for the increase.

He said: "It's an extremely challenging time and we need to make sure we have the right people in place to move forward the agenda of change we have before us. This is the right approach for us to take.

"It's right for a modern organisation to have a modern work force.

"Some people say this may not be the right time to make this adjustment. It isn't the right time, it should have been a long time ago."

But several councillors objected.

Cllr Janet Dover, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrats on the county council, said: "They [residents] would be horrified to have this county council in a stage of what could be austerity considering paying large sums of money to a senior member of staff.

"I really think this is ill-timed, ill conceived and ill thought out."

Cllr Andy Canning said that the council just can't afford to raise salaries at this time, while Cllr Paul Kimber added that it is the "wrong" time to be giving senior leaders the pay rise.

However several, including Cllr Peter Finney said that the heads of services deserve the increase.

Cllr David Jones said: "The senior leaders of this council have worked extremely hard.

"This should have been done a long time ago."

Prior to the meeting, union Unite slammed the decision as "rank hypocrisy" and GMB slammed it as "robbing the sinking ship before it goes down".