THE hunt is on to find the person to take the hottest seat at Warrington Town Hall.

And the successful candidate could earn as much as £140,000 a year.

The Warrington Guardian can exclusively reveal that current Warrington Borough Council chief executive David Whitehead is to step down at the end of the year.

And the bid to find his successor has been stepped up with

a job advert released this week.

Mr Whitehead took the job almost two years ago after an initial bid to find a replacement for high profile former boss Steven Broomhead failed.

Council bosses will be hopeful of avoiding a similar problem this time.

The appointment will be key to the future of the Town Hall after the most radical political change in two decades saw a joint Liberal Democrat/Conservative pact take the reins of

power from Labour last month.

Council leader Ian Marks calls the role "critical" and "high-profile".

He said: "We're not complacent about the challenges we face. But we know that, together, there's none of it we can't tackle. These challenges do provide major career opportunities and fantastic experience.

"We want an incisive, decisive and confident individual to play a key role in shaping the future of Warrington."

The salary has increased hugely in the past few years. Only four years ago it was less than £100,000 a year.

But the relatively small salary is understood to have been a factor in attracting a small number of candidates when Mr Whitehead took over in 2004.

Candidates have until early July to apply with a takeover set for next year.

gdunning@guardiangrp.co.uk