Andrea Hill, whose arrival in the county has been overshadowed by a bitter row about a wage increase for the role, said last week she was committed to the job.

"I think the salary is a fair salary for the job that I'm being asked to do," said Mrs Hill, adding that staff, residents and politicians from all parties had been 'very welcoming' since she took up the post last month.

"It's a very responsible job, commanding 28,000 staff in the county, delivering over 100 services to over 700,000 people with a billion-pound budget.

"If I did the same sort of job in the private sector I could probably earn far more, but I'm committed to local government.

"I believe in doing a job that makes a difference for people in communities."

Since her arrival, she has been talking to staff about their concerns and plans to spend the next month meeting community members.

And with an uncertain future while the Boundary Committee looks at options for a unitary authority, Mrs Hill, who saw Bedfordshire through its local government review, is backing the county council's One Suffolk proposal – and she said she was not concerned that her own job could be lost as a result of the changes.

"I think One Suffolk is a great opportunity to make already good local government services even better in the future," she said.

"I've been talking to councillors across the county and there is also a lot of support for One Suffolk in the west.

"It's an idea for a brand new council. It's not what I would choose, but it's right that when you start a new council it should choose its own chief executive, so I would have to compete against everybody else."

And as consultation on the future of middle schools in Lowestoft and Haverhill goes ahead, Mrs Hill said the decision in the Bury St Edmunds area was not a done deal.

"The council is committed to going through a genuine consultation process," she said. "There was lots of evidence that was looked at before the council made its decision and much of that showed children's education can be better – we need to be ambitious for our children."

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