Nuneaton and Bedworth councillors' allowances to be frozen

[dutchman]

Councillors’ allowances in Nuneaton and Bedworth are to be frozen, as finances at the Town Hall are increasingly put under pressure.

A review, carried out by an independent remuneration panel, has recommended that elected members should continue to receive a basic figure of £4,734 a year.

The Labour-controlled cabinet has voted unanimously to agree with the panel’s findings but will await a further report about figures for IT and phone use.

The panel also proposed that the annual payment to council leader Dennis Harvey should remain at £17,163, which currently rates as the second highest among the five local authorities in Warwickshire.

“This is the first review of members’ allowances for four years and the recommendation goes along with the proposal to reduce car mileage rates,” said Coun Harvey.

“It is interesting to note that allowances paid in Rugby are the highest in the county, yet it is a smaller borough than ours. The leader in Rugby gets £6,000 more than myself.”

The panel – chaired by former academic and local government consultant Dr Declan Hall – also proposed no changes in allowances for councillors with “special responsibilities,” including committee chair and vice-chair positions.

A table in the report showed that rates paid to cabinet members (£7,104) and the deputy leader (£8,079) were the highest in the county.

Coun Harvey added: “The panel looked fairly at the allowances for councillors to do a job, which is not about expenses.

“The comparison with neighbouring councils is not fair, because they attend conferences and stay in hotels, which I find offensive and which is something we do not do here.”

Before the report was presented, Green Party councillor Keith Kondakor addressed the cabinet and suggested that some allowances should be cut “because of the 30 per cent reduction in council expenditure.”

In a separate item, the Town Hall financial director, Simone Donaghy told the cabinet that the effect of the latest government spending review could hit the council by a further £750,000 – on top of the £3.4million of savings already needing to be made.