24 March 2021
At last night’s (23 March 2021) Borough Council General Purposes Committee meeting, Green Councillors proposed that, in addition to awarding a minimum 1% pay award for the Council’s staff, there should be no automatic increase in the allowances for Councillors and that the Council should consider changing the automatic increase in line with Council employees.
Green Councillor Mark Hood proposed “a 1% pay award on condition that Members forego an increase to their allowance for this year”. The proposal was seconded by Lib Dem Councillor Nick Stapleton.
The intention was to assure residents that the Councillors from all parties are aware of their concerns when they see rising charges and Council Tax, and are reluctant to increase the burden they themselves place on residents. Cllr Hood clarified that the Green Group would, and did, support a pay increase should the amendment be unsuccessful.
“We agree with the pay award for officers who have worked extraordinarily hard over the past year, having competitive rates of pay is essential to prevent losing staff to other local authorities.”
When it came to the vote, every Conservative and Independent Councillor on the Committee voted to link the increase to their allowance and the amendment was defeated only a week after the Conservative Group voted to reduce the number of Councillor to 43 members from 54, supposedly on the basis of cutting the cost of allowances.
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