The final decision made by Basildon’s out-going Conservative administration was to sign off the council’s chief executive a bonus of £8,000.

The decision was made during a committee meeting - and it is claimed it lasted less than 60 seconds.

The Tories have since been ousted from power with a ruling alliance made up of Labour, the Independents and the Wickford Independents taking their place.

Labour’s Adele Brown said she was due to attend the meeting at 7pm on Wednesday and when she arrived the other members – all Conservative councillors – were leaving and told her she was late and the meeting was over.

She claims to have been told they were working to the clock on the wall, which displayed the time as 7.01pm.

“They are saying they scrutinised the chief executive’s performance in less than 60 seconds,” she said.

“I am not saying I’m against the chief executive receiving that bonus, but the process was not followed. The performance was not scrutinised.

“I find it incredulous that they can claim to have discussed and agreed it within less than 60 seconds.”

The discussion of the chief executive’s performance was restricted from the public, but the council later confirmed that it agreed to a “performance related” payment of about £8,000.

The meeting was chaired by former Conservative council leader Councillor Andrew Baggott and Tory councillors Kevin Blake and Stuart Sullivan were also present.

Mr Baggott defended the length of the meeting, claiming that there was very little to discuss and they were there to review an independent report and not to scrutinise the council boss’s performance. There are only four people on the committee. He said: “We all read the agenda beforehand we had a discussion and we met beforehand to see if there were any questions. It was a simple, concise report, no one had any issues and we agreed the recommendations.

“It was never going to be a long meeting. Councillor Brown arrived after the meeting. If she had been on time, there wouldn’t have been an issue.”

A Basildon Council spokesperson said: “The chief executive appraisal process is independently managed by the East of England Local Government Association, who carried out an extensive appraisal meeting and evaluation of the chief executive’s objectives and outcomes before producing a final report.” “This report was issued to members of the Urgent Decision and Staffing Sub-Committee five working days ahead of Wednesday night’s meeting, in order to give them sufficient time to read through the details and form any questions.

“At the meeting councillors ratified the process and agreed the outcomes of the report by the East of England Local Government Association. As a result, the chief executive will earn c. £8k in performance related pay, after tax and National Insurance contributions.”

Basildon Council’s ex-chief executive Bala Mahendran was the county’s highest-earning council employee on £265,398 p/a. He left last year.