THE man in charge of saving Bolton's cash-strapped Octagon Theatre is earning £400 a DAY.

The news comes days after Octagon bosses confirmed 18 people are facing redundancy at the theatre, as part of cost-cutting provisions in a new business plan.

And today the BEN can exclusively reveal the theatre's new projects manager is the same freelance arts consultant who, along with board members, masterminded the business plan which includes provision for the redundancies.

Theatre bosses did not advertise the position of projects manager and there were no competitive interviews before Alun Bond took up his post.

Eve Walker, vice-chairman of the theatre's board, confirmed final agreements had been reached over the appointment of Mr Bond in a six months contract.

She stressed that Mr Bond's original consultancy position was not connected to his new role as projects manager.

Mrs Walker added: "Alun Bond has been appointed but what I am not prepared to tell you are the specifics of his salary.

"He will be working as many hours as he feels he needs to do to get the work completed.

"There were no competitive interviews. We were given a number of names to consider, which were put forward to us by various people. Time was of the essence and we had to get someone in post quickly."

Mr Bond is now in charge of booking touring companies from September to March 2000 to try to fill the theatre which will soon stage only three locally-made productions a year as it fights back from huge debts.

Mr Bond was told of his appointment by letter from Barry Wood, chairman of the Octagon's board.

He will earn £400 a day from a total budget of £15,000, as well as additional expenses of £1,500. Theatre bosses have refused to be drawn on Mr Bond's salary but his appointment has created huge controversy among other staff members.

One Octagon insider told the BEN: "It's created an 'us and them' situation. I think all members of staff want the board to resign."

Another Octagon devotee claimed: "From what we can gather he was simply offered the job without the position being advertised.

"He'll get £400 a day. It's nice work if you can get it. Many of the staff are furious about the business plan and they're furious about this appointment. "I know enough of them to know there's a great deal of unhappiness and anger. I feel very close to despair about the future of the Octagon."

Mr Bond confirmed that he had helped prepare the theatre's business plan before being approached to take on the project manager's role.

Speaking in Herefordshire, where his consultancy partnership Artservice is based, he said: "We undertook a review of the theatre which formed the preparation of the business plan.

"I've just come in to help the theatre develop the programme for the autumn and spring season.

"I shall be working within the theatre for the next six months on a part-time, freelance basis. I'm coming up weekly to work."

Prior to working in his arts consultancy partnership, Mr Bond was an actor and director, appearing at the Octagon in the 1970s. He also spent 10 years employed in the arts funding system.

The theatre has also advertised for a finance manager, who will earn £18,000 for just three days work a week. Octagon board member Les Harvey said the project manager's position had not been advertised but said "two or three" possible candidates had been approached about the role.

He added: "Because Alun had been involved with the theatre it was obvious he could hit the ground running.

"We took advice from North West Regional Arts as to the sort of person we needed. We did speak to two or three people who could possibly do the job. In the end we went on to discuss it in more detail with Alun."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.