WE’VE opened up a debate on HU12 Online about the allowances paid to councillors on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. As part of that we have used the latest published information on allowances paid out 2013-14 (period March 2013 – April 2014).
Councillors receive a basic allowance of £10,818 each year for the time spent on working on council duties.
For the public record, our local ward councillors (for South West Holderness) were paid the following travel allowances reimbursing expenses incurred whilst travelling in that period:
- Councillor Mike Bryan £1,774.85
- Councillor John Dennis £1,777.95
- Councillor Ann Suggit £1,457.94
In addition Councillor Bryan and Suggit both claimed the allowance available for IT support in that year of £144.
None of our local councillors received payment of any special allowance, carers’ allowance or subsistence allowance.
I agree ERYC Councillors should receive travel allowance, whereas local councillors such as those in Hedon do not, apart from the Mayor who receives a mayoral allowance, currently I believe at £4000 a year, this allows them to carry out their duties representing Hedon.
I did ask at a public meeting in 2014 when the attendance figures for Hedon Town Councillors were going to be published and that this was done before the election in May 2015. I think it only right and proper we see who attends meetings before we vote. In the past these attendance figures were extremely poor for some councillors, I hope they have improved.
I know there is a lot of controversy over things like this but in honesty being a ward councillor costs and the only way we can keep the doors open for the less wealthy to have a chance is through the availability of an allowance.It would be a bad to take away things such as travel expenses.All we will be left with is an elite Wealthy group. The hours and work loads of ward councillors is mind blowing.
I dread to think of how many exceptional people we loose through financial barriers.Its already impossible for many people to stand as a ward councillor unless backed by a political party.