A CASH-STRAPPED council agreed to pay £209,000 to its outgoing chief executive at a secret meeting on Monday, it has emerged.

CEO Christina Harrhy has been absent from Caerphilly Council since going off sick last November.

The authority plans to close the Llancaiach Fawr Manor Tudor mansion and museum and Blackwood Miners’ Institute arts venue as it tries to cut £45 million from its budget over the next two years.