THE controversial £200,000 boss of Hampshire County Council has announced he is to step down.

Chief Executive Peter Robertson, who was embroiled in scandal earlier this year when he refused to say how much he was paid for the job, will step down from the post in December at the age of 60.

Mr Robertson, who is thought to earn up to £199,000 of taxpayers money a year as head of the authority, will also be retiring from his role as chief executive of Hampshire Police Authority and a Clerk of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

During his tenure he has seen the council, which employs 38,000 people, achieve top-rated reports from the Government's Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment and UK-leading status in waste management.

The married father-of-two, however, also caused controversy earlier this year when he announced changes to the pay structure at the authority.

The changes will see up to 5,000 employees, mostly men, see their wages cut while at the same time Mr Robertson salary, which he refused to disclose under a Freedom of Information Request, and that of many of his senior staff, remain unaffected.

Mr Robertson retires in December when his contract ends at the age of 60.

He has more than 17 years service to the ouncil, since joining as its County Secretary in 1990.

He said: - "I am not looking beyond the next 8 months at the moment. We have a large number of initiatives and challenging projects in train at the moment and I will not be taking my eyes off the ball until a successor is inplace. It will be business as usual until I hand over at Christmas."