Eastbourne Council has become the only one in the country to do away with the role of chief executive following the sacking of Sari Conway.

The borough is still weighing up whether to appoint a replacement for its controversial former top officer, who was dismissed from her £72,000-a-year post for gross misconduct.

She was fired after a year-long inquiry ended this month, concluding that her aggressive management style had destroyed working relationships.

Council bosses today remained tight-lipped on the future of the role. A spokesman said: "It's still very early days.

"There is still no news but in the interim period the chief executive's role will be handled by the cabinet and the council management team as it has done in the past year or so."

Mrs Conway is believed to be starting another job in the public sector later this month.

Jim Chrystie, of the Employers Organisation for Local Government, said he could not think of any other local authority without a chief executive.

He said: "There are two posts the council has to have legally. One of these is a head of paid service, who deals with issues regarding paid staff.

"The other is head of monitoring, who makes sure that the scrutiny and standards procedures are done.

"Increasingly local authorities are seeking to separate these roles so they don't necessarily have to be carried out by the same person and this doesn't have to be the chief executive."

He said most authorities without a chief executive ended up reinstating the position.