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, 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.

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Also in this week's paper:

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- Discount store opens bringing 18 new jobs to the town

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- A double page of YOUR letters

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And much much more!

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