The departing chief executive of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council will get a redundancy package of more than £100,000.

The council also has to make a one-off payment of £118,300 into a pension fund to cover the cost of Tom Grainger’s early departure.

Mr Grainger expects to leave the authority by Christmas after losing out to West Dorset District Council chief executive David Clarke for the new role overseeing the new Westwey partnership.

The partnership aims to save money by delivering many district and borough council services jointly.

Mr Grainger, who is leaving with a redundancy package of £108,710 plus pension, said he now hoped to put his experience of public sector mergers to use with other organisations.

The council has to make an additional contribution of £118,300 to he Dorset Pension Fund to reflect the earlier than anticipated payment of pension.

At a full borough council meeting, members paid tribute to his work in getting the Westwey Partnership started.

Coun Geoff Petherick said the decision to make Mr Grainger redundant was ‘one of the most unpleasant reports I’ve had to present'.

He added: “I think I can speak on behalf of the whole council when I say I’m very sad that this has come to pass but this is obviously something we have to carry out.

“This is one of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make as a group because both candidates are excellent and more than capable of performing the role.

“I’ve said on a number of occasions how professional staff have been on the Westwey project and none more so than Tom Grainger.

“His door was always open to councillors.”

Talking directly to Mr Grainger, Coun Ian Roebuck said: “Over your time as chief executive you’ve had to deal with leaders from three different political groups and many more styles of political leadership.

“It must have been extremely frustrating at times but I think it’s fair to say that your courtesy has never slipped.

“You have been instrumental in getting us into the position we’re in at the moment.

“You’ve motivated people and you deserve great credit for that.

“I salute you and wish you well.”

Coun Margaret Leicester said Mr Grainger had ‘created an open door system’ at the borough council and wished him well for the future while Coun Paul Kimber thanked him for his work in getting the authority’s finances ‘back on track.’ Mr Grainger told the meeting he had probably sat through 150 full council meetings, adding: “I’ve always thought that the borough is a bit like a family and people are very proud of it.

“Like a lot of families, there’s an awful lot of squabbles within, but we sometimes forget how comparatively good we are.”

After the meeting, Mr Grainger added: “I have a lot of experience of change in the public sector and I’ll be trying to help some other organisations with that change.

“I have no intentions of moving.

“I live in Weymouth and it’s a lovely place to live and I have no wish to move on.

“I’ve got a very good working relationship with councillors and staff and it was nice to hear such warm tributes coming from them.”