The Christian People's Alliance (CPA) has called for senior councillors to resign in the light of 18 per cent pay rises to top council officers last year.

The party said it has, using the Freedom of Information Act, exposed fatal flaws in the Senior Staff Panel's decision to approve the pay increases.

It said statistics released to the party revealed 85 per cent of bosses live outside the borough, while the report, which recommended pay increases, cited high property prices in Kingston as a justification.

CPA's Kingston and Richmond election candidate Peter Flower said: "One of the basic reasons given for agreeing to the massive pay rises for the top bosses the high cost of housing for them in the borough has been found to be fundamentally flawed.

"Only three executives getting these massive rises are known to actually live in the borough.

"The senior staff panel members Liberal Democrat councillors Ian Reid, Derek Osbourne and Julie Haines, together with Tory Eric Humphrey and Labour Ed Naylor seem to have nodded these changes through without asking the right questions."

But all parties supported the pay rises which came into effect on January because the council deemed them necessary to attract the right calibre of person to the top positions.

Kingston now pays above the London average, having slipped to near the bottom of the pay league in previous years.

But CPA, which picketed against the increases in November, believes that in the council's current financial position facing a £1.2million overspend and poor grant settlement for the next two financial years such rises are unjustifiable.

Mr Flower added: "The pay ranges of Kingston officers should have been set at the lower quartile compared to other boroughs.

"But additionally, another key plank of the argument for these pay hikes has been shown to be flawed. Our campaign is not to criticise the professionalism of Kingston's senior officers. As we said before, this issue is one of justice.

"The £324,000 per year extra should have been put towards giving low paid council staff a decent rise this year, especially as it is this group that are likely to actually live in the borough themselves."

No one from the council was available for comment.