Allowances anger on Arun District Council

At the same time, they awarded more money to their deputy leader, Roger Elkins, in spite of an independent panel's recommendation that his allowance should be frozen.

Tories controlling Arun voted through a wide ranging package of changes to allowances at last Wednesday's full council meeting. They included cutting the money paid to Simon McDougall, leader of the main opposition, Lib-Dem, group, by almost half, to 3,917, and scrapping altogether payments to Labour leader Mike Northeast, who previously received almost 2,000, and a slightly smaller allowance for Independent leader Sylvia Olliver.

"Wrong message"

All councillors will also receive a four per cent rise in their basic allowance, rising to 4,870, in spite of opposition councillors warning that the increase sent out the wrong message to Arun residents, many of whom faced financial hardship as a result of the economic downturn.

Senior Conservatives pointed out this was the first rise in two years.

But it was the cutbacks in opposition leaders' allowances which stirred up the fiercest debate seen in the Arun council chamber for some years.

Mr Northeast declared: "It seems that the leader of this council is hell-bent on doing away with any opposition to her cabinet. That is what I am grossly opposed to."

He accused the Conservatives of showing their true colours by feathering their own nests.

"Jobs for the boys"

Mr MacDougall warned that cutting his payment would seriously hamper his ability to carry out his job as leader of the opposition, and scrutinise thoroughly the actions of all the Arun cabinet members.

He added: "What is being put through by the majority group is nothing more than jobs for the boys and downgrading the role of the opposition on this council, in an attempt to eradicate the opposition altogether."

Dr James Walsh, a former leader of the Lib-Dem group on Arun, said: "It's a disgraceful state of affairs when the biggest change is to take an axe to the democratically elected leader of the opposition."

He accused the Conservatives of taking money from the opposition leaders to increase allowances for Mr Elkins, receiving an extra 400 on top of his existing 10,000, chairman Don Ayling (up from 7,500 to 8,320) and vice-chairman Dudley Wensley (up from 2,000 to 2,745).

Freedom and democracy

"It's nothing worse than to try to turn this council into a totalitarian authority. It's a disgraceful attack on freedom and democracy in Arun district. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves," Dr Walsh told Conservative councillors.

Sandy Pascoe, one of the members of the independent panel advising the council on allowances, admitted she was "equally astonished" as Dr Walsh at some of the changes an Arun governance committee, meeting in July, had made to the panel's proposals.

While the panel had voiced some concerns about the high level of payments to opposition leaders on Arun, compared with other authorities, it had accepted the need for a strong opposition. Mrs Pascoe said the panel was also concerned about the increase for Mr Elkins, who was already highly paid as a deputy leader, compared with the same post in similar councils.

Mr Northeast proposed the decision should be sent back to the governance committee, with a recommendation that all allowances should be frozen, apart from the chairman and vice-chairman of the audit committee, because of a substantial increase in their workload. His motion was defeated.

Tory councillor Mike Barnett, who attended the governance committee as an observer, said a major discussion point had been that Arun was unusual in paying more than one opposition group leader, and the amount paid was higher than other councils "pretty much nationally".

No overall increase

Council leader Gill Brown said the package being recommended to the council meant no overall increase in spending, which would remain at 448,650 in a full year. The council also agreed that in future years allowances should be index-linked to council workers' pay.

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