Tough decisions on budget cuts are unavoidable, the new chief executive of Sandwell Council said today.

Jan Britton told the Express & Star that he is unlikely to be a popular figure as up to 500 job cuts loom.

“Being liked is nice but it’s not necessarily the job description. Making tough decisions is sometimes what you have to do,” he said.

The council is aiming to save £65million over the next four years.

With government cuts yet to be announced, the borough is already reeling from the slashing of £138m to its Building Schools for the Future scheme.

The father-of-four from Halesowen, who was previously executive director of urban regeneration at the council, has been in his new job for two weeks.

Warning of the need to cut staff posts by 10 per cent in the next three years through retirement, restructuring and redundancies, he said: “There is a lot that needs to be done.

“There are going to be some cuts but I have always said that cuts always happen if you try to do the same thing with less money.

“If you look at how we deliver services, and think a bit creatively and change and develop, then you can sometimes deliver more public service for less money, and we need to get back into the habit of doing that.”

The authority has announced that it will reduce the number of senior managers from 26 to 12 in a bid to save more than £1m.

Mr Britton is on a salary of £139,000 — less than his predecessor, who picked up £152,174 — and has worked for Buckinghamshire County Council and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.