PLANS to overhaul the council have led to its leader being accused of making a "humiliating u-turn" by the head of the opposition.

Gravesham Council's cabinet recommendation last week that the authority should install a managing director (MD) was expected to be approved by a meeting of the full council last night.

The proposal would see the current three service directors, under council leader Councillor John Burden and the cabinet, report to the MD.

Introduced three years ago, the existing system replaced the old post of chief executive.

Tory group leader Councillor Michael Snelling accused the Labour administration of an about-face.

He said: "I applaud this humiliating u-turn by Cllr Burden but he should announce it as that. I have been vilified for calling for this.

"It didn't work because any organisation needs a full-time person in administrative control. A contributory factor was the lack of a full-time leader and cabinet to compensate."

He added: "The cost to the borough has been the poor reports we've had on basic services and the monetary costs to council taxpayers of the original reorganisation and now doing it again."

But Cllr Burden says the proposed change is to meet new demands, such as money pouring in for development work in the Thames Gateway.

He said: "We could potentially have hundreds of millions of pounds coming into the borough and so we've decided we need to have an MD to make the most of this and improve services."

"Behind the scenes Cllr Snelling is supporting us. In the scrutiny meeting, chaired by him, there was no opposition. It's not a u-turn because a managing director is not a chief executive."

Cllr Burden added council tax rises would not be necessary to fund the change and the MD's salary would be in line with similar posts in the county.