February 21, 2014 2.16 pm This story is over 120 months old

Lincolnshire councillors approve increases for their allowances

Bigger allowances: Lincolnshire county councillors approved plans to raise their allowances by 23.4%.

Councillors at Lincolnshire County Council have approved an increase for their own allowances by 23.4%.

At a Full Council meeting on February 21, councillors voted 50 for and 20 against the raise in personal allowances.

This means rises to basic allowance paid to all councillors from £8,184 to £10,100 per year, with a rise to £21,000 for the deputy leader and £18,000 for members of the executive.

The allowances for opposition group leaders are also recommended to rise to £9,090, due to the responsibility of providing an effective opposition to the majority group.

The allowance increase was proposed by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP), which reviews allowances every four years.

Its report noted that Lincolnshire’s current basic allowance is £8,184, which currently ranks 27th of 31 county councils, and even now the proposals have passed, the totals would still rank lower than other areas in the region.

The IRP believes the increase better reflects the significant responsibilities involved in steering a “large and complex organisation spending hundreds of millions of pounds”.

However, Leader of the County Council, Councillor Martin Hill, has already decided he will not be taking a 56% increase (to £32,000 per year) in his allowance. He did feel though that the IRP’s proposals were fair.

Before Full Council, he said: “Our members play a vital role in our communities, spending many hours a week working on behalf of our residents.

“And it’s appropriate that they receive some support so that people from all walks of life are able to take part in local politics.

“All councillors are different, so it should be up to each member to decide whether they take their full allowance or not.”

At the meeting, councillors also voted for a freeze in the County Council’s share of Council Tax.