AN investigation on behalf of the Bury Times has found only one person fron an ethnic minority earns more than £55,000.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed there are 28 people, on the authority's payroll, earning that figure.

But it has been confirmed by officials that only one is from a BAME (black ethnnic minority) background.

The figures have come after a similar inquiry found only four staff out of 72 earning more than £50,000 employed at neighbouring Bolton Council are from a similar background.

An investigation by this newspaper group, centring on 15 North West councils and the make-up of senior leadership teams, found a marked lack of diversity.

Of six Greater Manchester councils only one has a director listed from a BAME background.

Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Manchester and Bury also had just a handful of staff from a BAME backgrounds, earning more than £50,000.

While all councils are obliged to list salaries of senior leadership teams they do not reveal the make up of those staff.

The Bury Times and our sister papers requested the numbers of those staff who were earning more than £50,000 or were employed as service managers.

Bolton Council confirmed that only four staff earning more than £50,000 were classed as coming from BAME background.

There were a further five staff earning more than £100,000 but none of those were from a BAME background.

At Bury Council no person from BAME background earns more than £100,000.

In Blackburn with Darwen, adult services director Sayyed Osman is listed as the only staff member at director level from a BAME background. Lukman Patel is chief operating officer at Burnley.