LANCASHIRE County Council has defended figures which show eight more employees had apparently earned more than £100,000 in a single year.

Campaigners at the Taxpayers Alliance have caused controversy with their annual Town Hall Rich List investigation.

Opposition leader Cllr Geoff Driver has expressed 'surprise' after it emerged 32 earned £100,000 or more in 2015/16, compared to just 24 in 2014/15.

But County Hall bosses insist redundancy payouts, as the authority is in the middle of a major reorganisation, skewed the report’s findings.

Cllr Driver, Tory group leader, said: “It is surprising given the transformation process, where one of the intentions was to reduce the senior managers on these kind of salaries.”

Deborah Barrow, the county council’s head of human resources, said: “The council has been undergoing significant transformation, due to reduced budgets and increased demand for services.

“As part of this process, some staff have left the council and therefore some of these figures include their redundancy payments.”

John O’Connell, the Taxpayers’ Alliance chief executive, said: “The average council tax bill has gone up by more than £900 over the last 20 years and spending has gone through the roof.

“Disappointingly many local authorities are now responding to financial reality through further tax rises and reducing services rather than scaling back top pay.”

Elsewhere in East Lancashire the number of civil servants earning more than £100,000, or even £150,000, has remained stable.

Harry Catherall, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s chief executive, was on £167,000, including pension contributions, for 2015/16, compared to £158,000 for 2014/15.

The only other East Lancashire chief executive in the £100,000 plus bracket is Hyndburn’s David Welsby.

Mr Welsby was on £151,182, in 2015/16, again with pension contributions, down from £157,831, in 2014/15.

But opposition Tory leader Cllr Tony Dobson said the chief executive was good value for money.

Cllr Dobson said: “Over the years David and his management team has kept Hyndburn on the straight and narrow.”

Mr Welsby’s salary, at around £113,000, has remained the same for at least seven years.