Allowances frozen for councillors
Adam Hewitt • Published 1 Apr 2010 17:00
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COUNCILLORS' allowances have been frozen at 2007-08 levels for the coming financial year.
Reading borough backbenchers get £8,220, more senior councillors get £9,513, scrutiny panel and committee chairs and Lib Dem leader Cllr Kirsten Bayes get £10,606, cabinet members and Tory leader Andrew Cumpsty get £12,460, deputy council leader Tony Page gets £14,578 and council leader Jo Lovelock gets £16,002.
The allowances are the lowest in Berkshire but the independent remuneration panel said the most senior councillors should eventually get more to reflect the huge amount of extra work they do.
Councillors can also claim for travel expenses, childcare, social care and meals when it is for council business.
They voted to confirm the allowance levels at their meeting on Tuesday night, but council leader Jo Lovelock called for an end to the "invidious" practice of councillors voting on their own allowances. She said it should be put in the hands of a national independent body.
The allowance levels were reduced back to 2007/08 level last March after Tory pressure.
At Tuesday's meeting, Labour Cllr Richard Stainthorp, who is standing down at the elections on May 6, condemned the freeze as "hair shirt" politics and said: "It does no-one any good. It does not mean anything.
"I believe any salary should keep pace with the cost of living.
"I don't feel this minimal saving represents anything other than a rather pathetic way to try to make headlines."
Tory Cllr Richard Willis wrote his comments off as "nonsense" and said the freeze was "absolutely right and proper" when Reading people are losing their jobs and having their own pay frozen and cut.
Deputy Labour leader Cllr Tony Page emphasised that Reading allowances are low compared to councils nationally and claimed that the allowances would rise if the Tories got into power.
He said: "In Bracknell the expenses are off the end of the scale, but what they don't have in Bracknell is the rank hypocrisy of pretending that a £12,000 reduction in allowances is going to face down the budget problems."
Labour Cllr Peter Jones attacked Mayor Fred Pugh for voting for a freeze on allowances at Reading council but voting for a 450% rise in allowances on Royal Berkshire Fire Authority last summer, from £400 to £1,800.
Cllr Pugh admitted that he had been against the rise, voted through by Tory members of the authority in the face of Labour and Lib Dem opposition in June, but felt duty-bound to vote with his political group.
He said: "I spoke against the increase in the [Conservative] group meeting but in the full meeting I was subject to the group whip."
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Dave Warren
Unregistered User
Apr 3, 10:00
Report commentWell done RBC Councillors for agreeing to this freeze on allowances. This is only part of the equation though councillors sit on a number of other bodies such as the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority referred to above. Other examples include the Police Authority and Health Service bodies. Who knows how these bodies that make decision on our behalf are composed and what are the members of them getting in remuneration? Honest Abe
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Mischievous
Unregistered User
Apr 4, 23:33
Report commentI believe it was the editor the Daily Express who commented that Councillors earned more than Members of Parliament through their business interests. I can certainly understand this from Councillors who are connected with lobbying or are consultants. I agree with Richard Stainthorpe that people serving the public interest should be paid the market rate. But to go with it should be a clause in the contracts which prohibits exploitation of their position for personal gain. (No tickets to Reading Festival etc.) So exactly how much has each Councillor given up - £20 per month? (3% rise) - not even the price of a good lunch.
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