Derbyshire: Council leader welcomes independent backing for allowances

Coun Anne Western said: “I am pleased that the independent panel has recognised that overall our plans are fair.”

“It’s important to bust the myth that all councillors are getting a pay rise – that simply isn’t true.”

“Of our 64 councillors, some allowances have gone up and some have gone down but the majority have stayed exactly the same.”

“Like-for-like, the changes we proposed save more than £3,500 on councillors’ allowances.”

“And we’ve also made major changes to the chair’s office by stopping plans by the previous administration to recruit a chauffeur and buy new civic cars and by cancelling expensive civic functions – saving £80,000.”

The panel supported most of the proposed adjustments to allowances but did not support the council’s proposal to reduce the allowance for the leader of the main opposition.