Birmingham City Council will advertise next month for a #195,000 chief executive - but business leaders fear the salary will not be high enough to attract the best candidate.
Simon Murphy, chief executive of the professional services lobby group Birmingham Forward, believes the council should be prepared to pay up to #250,000 to get the right person.
Mr Murphy said high-flyers could be put off from applying by the specification of a maximum salary.
The proposed pay package - worth about #230,000 when pension contributions and bonuses are taken into account - will not even be the highest in local government.
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A Government U-turn on prostitution tolerance zones has been welcomed by a Birmingham councillor who spearheaded a campaign to drive the sex trade out of a residential suburb of the city.
It is understood a zero tolerance campaign against kerb crawlers and prostitutes will be launched next month, signalling the end of the Government's proposed licensed "red zones".
The first major review of prostitution laws since 1954 is being seen as the next phase in the Prime Minister's drive against anti-social behaviour.
Councillor Deirdre Alden (Con Edgbaston), a prime mover in the Rotten Park Action Group which campaigned against prostitution in her ward by using resident patrols and Asbo powers, welcomed the shift in Government thinking.
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On the London foodie circuit, the mention of Innes Cheese makes many a mouth water.
The goats' cheese-firm, based at Highfields Farm in Tamworth, Staffordshire, has won countless awards for its young and mature cheeses.
And while it ships the majority of its produce to top London food halls and restaurants, the rest of the country is catching up with a growing desire for a bit of goat.
Soaring demand for the animal's cheese, milk, yoghurt and even butter have led to record levels of goats being farmed in Britain.
According to the latest figures, goat numbers in the UK have risen by 23 per cent in the last four years as the animals' by-products have become increasingly profitable for farmers.
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Disgraced former Walsall North MP John Stonehouse spent months secretly rehearsing his new identity before faking his own death, according to newly-published official papers.
Stonehouse famously staged his disappearance from Miami Beach on November 20 1974 amid the collapse of a series of fraudulent businesses which he had set up.
He left behind a pile of clothes, in order to create the impression that he had drowned while out swimming.
But on Christmas Eve, he was picked up by Australian police in Melbourne where he had fled in an attempt to establish a new life with his mistress and former secretary, Sheila Buckley.
See Thursday's Birmingham Post for more on these stories
