A ROW has broken out after it emerged the boss of The Lowry arts centre was paid £310,000 last year - more than the governor of the Bank of England.

The payment to chief executive Julia Fawcett - made up of a £125,000 salary, a bonus and a one-off payment for the five years she has been in post - has been criticised by opposition councillors in Salford.

And the issue will be raised at next week's meeting of Salford council, which contributes £927,000 a year towards its operating costs.

The payment is more than the salaries of Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England (£283,000) and Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (£285,000). Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate which has galleries in London, Liverpool and St Ives, earned £191,039 last year while Gordon Brown is paid £188,000.

Locally, her earnings dwarfs those of other high earners in top jobs. Vaughan Allen, chief executive of the Urbis exhibition centre in Manchester earns about £60,000, Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council £199,000, Mike Deegan, Chief Executive of Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs six hospitals receives £190,000 and Barry Dixon, County Fire Officer gets £140,000.

Miss Fawcett's salary is made up of a basic salary of £125,000 and the bonus of £185,000, which included a one-off payment for the last five years.

The Lowry's theatres, galleries and education complex increased its turnover by 12.8 per cent last year to £12.7m - thanks to record theatre attendances but the payment has left staff fuming.

Funding concerns 

One worker wrote to councillors saying: "I fear for the jobs of co-employees. How can this company campaign for funding and be seen to pay bonuses to fat cats? Private funding may now collapse leaving The Lowry in jeopardy."

Liberal Democrat councillor Joe O'Neill described the payment as `obscene'.

He said: "I feel bemused and saddened. I feel strongly on how the money is used that the people of this city pay each year in community charges. I find it disgraceful that any one person feels they are able to receive this obscene amount of money.

"I will raise this on behalf of the staff at the Lowry, many of whom earn little more than the minimum wage."

But the payment was defended by The Lowry. A statement said: "the Lowry confirms that a total payment of £310,000 was made to a director during the last year, not all of it was salary.

"The remuneration package included a specific one-off payment relating to a clause in the employee's contract concerning The Lowry's commercial property company.

"It is also important to note that this relates to more than one year. The basic salary earned by this director is comparable with a number of other major arts venues nationwide."

Chairman Rodney Aldridge said: "The Lowry has undergone a spectacular commercial and artistic turnaround in the last five years. I have no doubt that our ability to retain a first class executive team has been the critical factor.

"In the last year alone, theatre attendances are up from 415,000 to 445,000 and turnover increased by nearly £1.5m - a fantastic overall performance that any arts organisation in the country would be proud of."

"The Lowry is unusual in generating more than 85 per cent of its own funding.

"This means that its reliance on public support is very modest, particularly when compared to comparative arts organisations nationwide.

"The Lowry receives seven per cent while other local authorities subsidise arts venues by 12 per cent," said Mr Aldridge.'

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