Caerphilly councillors vote to freeze allowances (From South Wales Argus)
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Caerphilly councillors vote to freeze allowances
8:10am Thursday 30th April 2009 in News By South Wales Argus Newsdesk
CAERPHILLY councillors voted to freeze their allowances due to the current financial climate.
In a move expected to save the council around £40,000, they rejected the recommended 2.5 percent increase in basic allowance.
All parties supported Plaid’s proposal on the grounds it was inappropriate for elected representatives to increase their own allowances when people in the county borough were losing their jobs and struggling to make ends meet.
The maximum basic allowance for 2009/10 will remain at £13,030 despite the Independent Runumeration Panel for Wales’ recommendation it rise to £13,356 in line with the AssemblyÕs pay inflation guidelines.
A five percent increase in childcare allowance was also rejected and remains at £384 a month.
The council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for constitutional affairs, Plaid’s Allan Pritchard, proposed the freeze at a full council meeting on Tuesday, which was supported by all political parties.
He said councillors could not justify increasing their allowances while Caerphilly was suffering from the impact of the economic downturn.
He said: "We recognise that councillors today provide a vital service in their local community and should receive an appropriate allowance to reflect their hard work and commitment, but this is the right decision to take in the current economic climate."
He added: "We have a duty to serve the people of the Caerphilly county borough and put their best interests first."
Although a recorded vote was not taken, a show of hands reflected overwhelming support for the freeze.
The leader of the Independents, councillor Kevin Etheridge, said: "This is the correct decision because a rise in allowances would be totally unacceptable in the present climate."
Labour’s deputy leader, councillor Gerald Jones, said: "I think it’s one of those rare occasions when we have a unanimous council decision."
Comments(5)
homepage
says...
9:53am Thu 30 Apr 09
Could someone tell the plaid people that they have no right to give my money to charity! That is just plain rude. If they didnt agree, why did they vote the payrise in? Oh, I forgot. they need to keep in with Labour to keep their extra paid Special Allowances they got because they voted Labour back into power last May (And will probably do it again this May too).
DISGRACEFUL to vote a payrise in and then attempt to appease peopel by donating it to charity.
As for that Labour lot.....well, snouts in the trough again. The sooner they are removed from power, the better.
homepage
says...
10:03am Thu 30 Apr 09
Does Plaid know what they are doing here in Wales? This is hypocritical & farcical.
Plaid in Torfaen have lost all credibility. I hope they are ashamed of their behaviour in the last 12 months.
clare1984
says...
10:30am Thu 30 Apr 09
I presume the torfaen Plaid Members only won thier seats last year so they dont really have a council group structure that is whipping them into place.
But Labour and Plaid should be ashamed of themselves in Torfaen for having two pay rises:- for Labour have they forgotten what the Labour movement was about??
Frazerj
says...
10:51am Thu 30 Apr 09
Cannot they see that they are admitting that they voted for the payrise but did not agree with it?
They vote consistantly with the labour whip, they ask a few non-contravercial questions about welsh affairs and say thank you in welsh after they speak, but otherwise they are indistinguishable from their labour colleagues. They are "doing their job" and to do that they must keep the current labour leadership in power, indeed that is what they really being paid for.
This is not democracy.
The Plaid leadership think they have a good chance of beating labour in Torfaen next time, see www.torfaen4us.co.uk Does anyone think this is true?
Pants says...
8:39am Thu 30 Apr 09