A recently-departed council chief executive is continuing to be paid to remain as chairman of an arms-length company run by his former authority.

David White, who left Norfolk County Council last Friday, is expected to stay as chairman of Norse for three months while the council awaits a new administration to be elected on May 2.

He will receive just under £800 a month for the non-executive role.

Mr White, 61, left the council after he concluded his chief executive position should become a more commercially-minded managing director role to cope with the authority's changing focus. He departed with a redundancy payment of £35,439.

Colleen Walker, Labour county councillor, asked yesterday why Mr White was being kept on as chairman of Norse and who took the decision.

Mr Borrett replied at county council cabinet: 'Mr White has been asked to stay on as a director of Norse over the period of the election, as has councillor Tony Williams, to give the board some stability so when the new administration starts in June they will have time to make their own appointments.

'With an organisation the size of Norse, there needs to be stability at board level for the company to continue to function as it does.'

Mrs Walker also asked whether council leader Bill Borrett believed Mr White had done anything wrong in secretly recording former leader Derrick Murphy while asking him questions about an email.

That email was sent by Kevin Vaughan, the political assistant to the county Conservative group, to BBC Radio Norfolk, last April.

It was sent two days before Nick Daubney, West Norfolk Council leader, was due to appear on Nick Conrad's show to discuss the King's Lynn incinerator, which has long been a source of tension between West Norfolk and Norfolk County Council. It suggested it might 'be pertinent information' for the broadcaster to know the borough council leader was facing 'a serious leadership challenge' and that his authority had failed to procure alternative technology to the plant.

When the email was revealed it led to an independent investigation and a standards hearing for Mr Murphy.

The committee found he had breached the council's code of conduct in asking Mr Vaughan to lie about who asked him to send the email, but cleared him of other alleged breaches.

Mr Borrett said yesterday: 'As far as I am concerned, Mr White carried out his duties as chief executive of this council in an entirely satisfactory way.'