Former Westminster City Council Chief executive, Sir Peter Rogers, is to take over the top job at Cardiff City Council on an interim basis.

Sir Peter, who was also chief executive of the London Development Agency, will take over from Jon House, who is leaving to join PWC, in July.

However, his salary will not be paid for by the council, and will instead come directly from the Welsh Local Government Association, for at least the first three months.

WLGA chief executive Steve Thomas said Sir Peter would ‘add to the improvement progress that Cardiff is going to make'.

It comes just weeks after the Labour-run council appointed 11 new top tier directors, including eight external candidates, each on £120,000 to £130,000-a-year.

The restructure adds £1.1m to the wage bill, but Labour insists there will be no extra cost as the £3.6m previously spent each year on management consultants will be reduced.

The recruitment of five assistant directors, each on £80,000, has been put on hold as part of a new review of the councils' middle management.