A WATCHDOG group has launched an unprecedented bid to hold East Riding Council to account.

Pressure group East Yorkshire Eye has petitioned to appear before one of the council's scrutiny committees.

If given the go-ahead, members of the group say they will challenge the size of recent pay awards to senior officers and call for a radical shake-up in the way the council is run.

A row erupted just over 12 months ago when the council's chief executive, Nigel Pearson, was awarded a £9,000-a-year pay rise, taking his annual salary to £162,000.

At the same time, four other directors had their salaries increased by nearly £12,000 to almost £123,000 a year.

Until now, the group has campaigned on individual issues relating to the authority.

But the move to appear before one of the council's scrutiny committees would be a first.

Chairman Rick Sumner delivered the petition at the council's County Hall headquarters in Beverley last week.

Under council rules, scrutiny hearings can be triggered by petitions signed by 10 local electors. However, they have traditionally followed requests from councillors or other committees.

Mr Sumner said: "In the current economic climate, every taxpayers' pound must be made to go further and councils must show they are providing value for money with services, with salaries and with tough decisions about their corporate executives, especially where failures occur."

The group says it wants to see an immediate 30 per cent cut in corporate management pay at the council.

It is also calling for a cap to be introduced on local government pensions to limit any individual to £50,000 per annum while freezing pensions above that figure.

The group is planning to use the example of the 2007 floods to highlight alleged shortcomings in the council.