24 February 2011
- But Conservatives vote to maintain joint allowances which currently can exceed £40,000 a year
Witham and Braintree Green Party has uncovered that some joint councillors on Essex County and Braintree District Councils are currently eligible for over £40,000 a year of allowances (1).
Braintree District Green Councillors James Abbott and Philip Hughes last tonight proposed to the Full Council meeting of BDC that the council should seek agreement with Essex County Council from 2012/13 to cap the level of joint councillor allowances to £27,000 a year. This is approximately the median full time wage for male earners in the South East (2).
Based on current eligibility for basic and special allowances, such a cap could save taxpayers around £50,000 a year in Braintree District, money which could then be used to helps secure the long term future of local services which are under threat such as the Walks Programme and Community Led Planning support for rural communities.
In the Budget Consultation undertaken by BDC, 95% of those residents taking part supported finding savings from the annual bill for councillors allowances.
Cllr. James Abbott said
"Given the severe financial restraint being imposed by the Government, we should be doing everything we can to find savings whilst protecting front line services.
Given that BDC conducted a consultation in which 95% of residents taking part agreed that savings should be made from the annual bill for councillors allowances, it is simply incredible that the Conservatives on BDC should then vote down a proposal to do just that.
Our proposal would have started in 2012/13, giving time for detailed discussions between BDC and ECC. It would have been additional to the savings already identified in councillors allowances because we believe that it is unreasonable for councillors to be able to claim in excess of £40,000 a year from taxpayers whilst services are under threat and households are struggling. Even with a cap of £27,000, that is still well in excess of what many people in this district earn for a full time job.
Yet the Leader of the Council went out of his way to talk down our proposal. Only he can explain why he did that. When it came to the vote, the proposal found support throughout the groups in the Chamber - except from the majority Conservative group, most of whom voted to maintain the current situation - where joint allowances can exceed £40,000 a year.
The council has received many representations calling for the Walks Programme to be saved and for support to be maintained to rural parishes via the Rural Community Council of Essex. Our proposal could have saved enough money for these schemes to continue.
We believe that many taxpayers in this district will find the actions of the Conservative Leader of BDC to be highly revealing. He failed to assure the people who attended the meeting last night and Cabinet on February 14th who spoke so strongly of the need for the Walks Programme to continue with active support from BDC.
Instead of offering to simply consider what we were suggesting, which could have saved enough money to secure these vital community programmes, he dismissed our savings proposal using some spurious arguments and then led his Conservative councillors into the vote against."
ENDS
Notes:
1. Following a Freedom of Information request, Green Councillors obtained a full schedule of the allowances County Councillors are eligible for. The allowances for Braintree District Councillors can be found on the council website.
A list was then compiled of the aggregated basic and special allowances for councillors sitting on both authorities which revealed that some councillors are eligible to claim in excess of £40,000 a year. Travelling and other expenses could be claimed on top of these figures.
2. Office of National Statistics. It was also proposed that the cap be updated annually in line with ONS figures.
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