Is someone! winding me up! – asking me to comment on the above – well not a problem for me to comment on anything that may seem controversial – lets start with some basic information for those who may not know.
Town Councillors (Whittlesey) – Receive no allowances, the elected Mayor does receive a fixed out of pocket allowance and can claim mileage allowance. It is entirely up the individual whether they actually claim these allowances.
District Councillors (Whittlesey) Receive a basic allowance (£4676.64), plus special allowances if they are on committees or are chairman/woman of committees.
County Councillors (Whittlesey) similar to the above.
All District and County Councillors can if they so wish claim mileage allowances for work carried out directly related to their position, again Councillors can if they so wish not claim for these ‘expenses’.
All expenses must be documented correctly and are well audited before any payments made. All Councils have to publish by law and make available ALL Councillors allowances, and expenses claimed.
Now we move to the recent ‘Allowance’ increase voted by Cambridgeshire County Councillors.
The 61 members of Cambridgeshire County Council currently take home a basic allowance of £7,933, the lowest in the country. But following a vote at a full council meeting recently a 30 per cent increase to £10,315 was agreed, bringing it in line with the national average for two-tier authorities.
This went against the independent pay review body – I believe as many councillors I spoke too was a big slap in the face to the public and electorate. Many councillors having just been elected in May 2017 and one of the first things ‘they’ did is give themselves a very large increase.
As I have commented before, I believe that a complete overhaul of Councillors allowances within Cambridgeshire should be carried out in a robust and fair way.
Councillors should not be out of pocket or have to subsidise out of their own money to carry out work on behalf of the electorate.
We have to remember no one is forcing a person to stand as a Councillor – it is a free choice.
The slap in the electorate face was and still is that other than ‘one’ councillor who abstained in the vote, the rest all went with the leader of the Council, but many (who privately disagreed) still voted themselves a 30% increase.
Will the electorate remember this come election time I doubt it – however I might just be the one to remind the electorate!!!!!!.
Councillors attendances, can again be subjective – I am very impressed by any Councillor who has attended 100% of meetings.
I believe all Councillors can have ‘time out’ for various reasons, whether holidays clash with meetings, or unfortunate health or medical problems cause none attendance.
I can hold my hand up in the respect that I/we go away regularly, however I would hope that any Councillor makes up time when they are able too.
There is no excuse for not being contactable even if you’re away. Naturally everyone understands someone being unwell and should try and contact someone else with their issue or question.
As far as Whittlesey Councillors are concerned Cllr Steve Garratt comes in as attending the fewest of meetings both at Fenland and at WTC attending only 3 out of a possible 11 meetings.
Unfortunately in the day and age of Social Media ruling the waves and many believing that everything they read is the truth – Councillors and activists like myself are in for a hiding irrespective of what-ever we do.
©FDC
We live is some sort of democracy and as I’ve said on many occasions – you/I have the opportunity to vote in or out who ever is brave enough to stick their neck out.
The be-moaners on social media are not brave enough to stick their necks out from behind their anonymity.
There is an article in last weeks Cambs Times© Page 33 regarding FDC Councillors attendances along with an editorial comment by John Elworthy
There is a ‘free’ digital edition of the Cambs Times© only requires registering.
http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/home
Whittlesey Town Councillors attendance can be viewed on the WTC Website
Click Here
