The council will pay an independent investigator £1,500 a day to uncover the truth behind the Lyme Green scandal.

Cheshire East has put no budget or time limit on the inquiry into the blunder, in which the council spent £800,000 on work at a waste transfer site without getting planning permission from itself.

Residents who initially campaigned against the work have welcomed the review. But they are concerned it will lack scope and objectivity and have submitted their own complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

The official decision to appoint the investigator was made by a committee after three senior officers were grilled by a panel last week over their role in the fiasco, which was exposed by the Express, and then compounded by a damning internal audit.

The panel’s decision means the allegations ‘could lead to dismissal or other action’.

A council spokesman confirmed: "We have taken the next step in the review of the conduct of officers in relation to Lyme Green.

"The staffing sub-committee have made arrangements to appoint an independent person to undertake an investigation in regards to a number of senior officers which will commence shortly."

Celia Davies, chairwoman of the Lyme Green Residents’ Group, which has fought the plans from the beginning, said: "I’m pleased they are going ahead but I hope it will have a much wider remit than the internal audit.

"We as residents have exhausted the council’s complaint procedure, so we have gone ahead and contacted the ombudsman.

"I remain hopeful that the investigation will be open and honest and will reveal what on Earth is going to happen after that amount of taxpayer money was spent.

"The cost of the investigation just adds to what they have done – squandered our money."

Peter Yates, Sutton resident and former head of planning at the now defunct Macclesfield borough council, added: "Like in a trial, all the facts should be looked at and all witnesses should be interviewed, including Lyme Green residents and contractors, so a balanced view can be taken about what went on – both decisions and reactions.

"Serious omissions in the internal audit should be addressed. One of these is the minutes of meetings in the lead-up to the decision to start work. There would definitely have been meetings, but none were referred to in the internal audit report." He added: "It is also disappointing that there is only one investigator as it prohibits an objective view and the departure of (chief executive) Erika Wenzel makes me worry about how thorough it can be."

A council spokesman has said previously that the investigator will have access to all information and will be able to interview any employees and councillors in order to produce the report as soon as possible.