The £100,000-a-year boss at Teignbridge Council has failed to rule out the possibility that she could be off to pastures new, despite earlier suggesting she was here for the long term.

Nicola Bulbeck took up the chief executive's post in February 2006, pledging to get her hands dirty and to concentrate on 'bogs, dogs and yobs', matters she said that were 'hugely important'.

The council's performance has improved since her arrival and now has one of the highest satisfaction ratings among tax payers.

But Ms Bulbeck has announced that, from January, she is to spend half her working week acting as chief executive for Torridge District Council in north Devon after boss John van de Laarschot secured a job in Stoke-on-Trent.

Ms Bulbeck's Teignbridge salary will be halved during the six-month exercise and other council officers will asked to 'step up and be more visible' in order to fill the gap created by her absence.

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