TEA ladies at Fenland Hall in March look set to be axed in the latest round of cost cutting which will also see two �60,000-a-year directors leave.

The part-time tea ladies, who cost Fenland District Council about �33,000 a year, do twice daily rounds to Fenland Hall staff.

A council spokesman said: “As part of our overall review of the organisation, we are �considering the future of our tea trolley service at Fenland Hall.

“The service is under review and the �outcome will be reported to our staff committee this month. All staff have been fully consulted as part of the process.”

Corporate director Tim Mills, former head of housing and the man responsible for the stock transfer to Roddons, will leave at the end of March, along with Natalie Rowlands, head of policy and communications.

One of the tea ladies is off sick but all four could leave in March if the proposal is �ratified.

The proposal to make them redundant ends a tradition in Fenland since local government re-organisation in 1974.

One former council official who worked at Fenland at the time said �previously it had been the job of �newcomers in each department to make the tea.

He said: “I was the tea boy for a while and remember protesting one day to a secretary when I was asked to clean the kettle.

“I complained and was summoned to the chief executive and told in no uncertain terms that unless I did clean the kettle my career in local government would be shortlived”.

Councillor Alan Melton said: “When I became leader, I went into a �meeting with the then chief �executive Norman Topliss having made a mug of tea in the members’ room.

“He wasn’t happy – �apparently, I should have waited for one to be made.”