Fears have been raised that Colchester's chief executive, who was denied early retirement last month, will not come back to his job.

John Cobley has been on sick leave since a request for him to leave his position as highest paid officer of the council was turned down.

At a cabinet meeting on Thursday night the cabinet looked at passing a temporary management structure until the Mr Cobley comes back to work on January 7.

But some councillors were puzzled as to why the structure needed to be changed two weeks before the chief executive came back to his desk.

Philip Hawkins (Lab, Wivenhoe) said: "What puzzles me is that if you order the chief executive to return to work and he has said he is, then why is it necessary to put in fairly substantial changes to cover for his absence? This suggests to me the absence will not be short term."

Tim Young (Lab, St Andrew's) asked why the changes were being made two months after he left - and two weeks before he was due to return.

He said: "This seems very strange to me. It seems to be papering over the cracks."

Chairman of the cabinet Bill Frame defended the decision. He said: "The fact is Mr Cobley is away on sick leave as a personal matter and I would not wish to comment on that situation."

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