The chief executive of Swale council has quit his £198,000-a-year role.

Staff were told of Abdool Kara’s departure yesterday (Tuesday) after a seven-year stint as the borough’s top-paid employee.

He is to take up a position with the National Audit Office and is due to leave in February next year.

“There was no push-factor whatsoever,” he said. “I was head-hunted. Making the decision was very difficult.

“I love what we do here, I love the people I work with who are doing amazing things with the council.

“But seven-and-a-half years is a long time for a chief executive and this will be a new challenge for me.”

Mr Kara was appointed in 2009 after the sacking of Mark Bilsborough, who was on gardening leave from the council for several months.

“I had done my research about the borough but not so much about the history of the previous chief exec.

“The journey we have been on over seven-and-a-half years – an authority in a poor state in 2009 to being highly competent, financially robust and cutting edge on a lot of things.

“It was probably the most difficult period for anyone to be chief executive in local government through the years of austerity.

“To have managed our way through austerity as robustly and competently as we have gives me the warmest feeling – and being on the cusp of seeing Sittingbourne town centre regeneration off the ground.”

On the Spirit of Sittingbourne project, he added: “It has taken five years to get to where we are today and we are about to put spades in the ground.

“If I was going to fall on my sword for a lack of progress that would have been two years ago.”

He could leave with the confidence, he said, that the preparation work on the town’s regeneration was “done and dusted”.

“I would hope and expect we would have diggers in place by the time I leave in February.”

Mr Kara said his new job with the National Audit Office was a chance to make a difference on a national level. There was a mixed reaction to his resignation.

Ukip leader Cllr Mike Baldock said: “I think it’s an opportunity for Swale to reconsider whether they need a chief executive and seriously consider the amount they pay for one.

“I am sure that the authority will be able to survive Abdool’s departure.

“Maybe some fresh thinking and new vitality might help bring the council out of the downward cycle it’s in. It’s a positive opportunity for a new vibrant approach.”

Labour group leader Cllr Roger Truelove said the resignation offered the council the chance to think again about the way it was managed and what kind of officer leadership was most appropriate at a time of austerity in local government.

“If we have to make money out of local investments then we need a high level of skill competence in that sort of area without recruiting people who forget that the first consideration is a community where there is too much deprivation,” he added.

Cllr Monique Bonney (Ind) Tweeted: “The news does not surprise me after last week’s heated cabinet meeting.”