THE chief executive of a timber-frame housebuilding company has received a 29 per cent pay rise, just weeks after it was revealed almost a third of the workforce at his Witney factory was being axed.

Stewart Milne, chairman and chief executive of the Stewart Milne Group — pictured left with managing director Andrew Smith — will see his pay package rise from £1.55m to £2m a year.

In July, 78 of the 260-strong workforce at the Witney factory were made redundant due to a downturn in the building trade.

Defending the move, group managing director Glenn Allison said: "A wide range of timeframes are used in deciding remuneration packages.

"We look at the long periods of significant and sustained growth the company has experienced in the past, though the timing of the package obviously comes afterwards.

"We do not believe it is out of line with the contribution Stewart Milne has made to the company's growth over the past 37 years."

Mr Milne and family featured at number 214 in this year's Sunday Times Rich List, with a fortune estimated at £294m.

The company's decline was reflected in its financial results to June 30, which showed a 40 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £25m.

The Witney factory shouldered 27 per cent of all the Scottish-based group's 278 redundancies during the year.

Mr Allison said the downturn in the housebuilding business, and the lack of liquidity in the credit market caused the redundancies in Witney — 20 per cent of which were compulsory.

Stewart Milne Group constructed the £10m Witney plant in 2001.