Lib Dems Welcome Move To Freeze County Councillors’ Basic Pay

Cllr Andy Pellew

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have welcomed an independent panel’s recommendation that County Councillors’ pay should remain unchanged.

The move backs up the Liberal Democrats’ view that a freeze in Councillor allowances is the right decision at a time when jobs and services are being cut.

The Lib Dems are now calling for the £100,000 Conservatives set aside to give themselves a 25 per cent pay rise to be invested in free public transport for 16-19-year-olds seeking employment or education. They will put this in a motion and ask for council support on March 27.

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrat Leader, Kilian Bourke said: “The Liberal Democrats have consistently called for a freeze in Councillor allowances so we welcome the panel's recommendations.

"It was wrong of the Conservatives to give themselves a 25 per cent pay rise at a time of wage freezes, redundancies and cuts to front line services.  These proposals better reflect the times we are living in.”

Local Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Andy Pellew said: "The work we do as County Councillors is a lot more rewarding than just a pay cheque at the end of the month and it was a mistake by the Conservative administration to try and measure the work we do on a purely financial basis."

"It would also be a mistake just to read this report in terms of Councillors allowances. As someone with a full-time job and a young family it's important to me that the panel also recognised that the timing of meetings, always during the day, is an issue for people like me who work."

Councillors Allowances: Your Chance To Stop The Raise!

The public meeting on Councillors Allowances is scheduled for tonight at 18:30 at Anglia Ruskin University in the Centre of Cambridge.

The link with details (and a map to the venue, which is copied below) is;

Councillors Allowances Review

Alternatively if you want to have your say electronically you can always use the on-line form;

Councillors Allowances Survey

I cannot stress enough; this is your only chance to stop Councillors getting a ridiculous pay rise. As the Conservatives have previously demonstrated whatever the "Independent" panel suggests; they will vote for. This is your chance to help steer the panels recommendation in the way most people want.

Anglia Ruskin University, Lord Ashcroft Building, Lab 003 - Venue Map

Have Your Say On County Councillors Allowances

With the City Council both freezing its Council Tax and freezing the allowances paid to City Councillors it is troubling that the County Council is still running a "public consultation" exercise on the current levels of remuneration for County Councillors.

As you know the previous "Independent Remuneration Panel" (IRP) advised the Council that Councillors were being drastically underpaid and deserved an absolutely obscene 25% pay rise - a pay rise the vast majority of the Conservative group then voted to accept.

The Panel was ruled to have been illegal constituted and the pay rise was consequently thrown out.

This is the Conservatives second attempt to get more money - oh and in case you were wondering if it really was about more money yesterday the Conservative Group voted through a budget which includes an extra 100k pre-allocated for the rise (clearly they are expecting the panel to just rubber-stamp the previous conclusion!).

If you would like to have your say on-line then the link is below;

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/involved/allowances

There is also going to be a public meeting in the Centre of Cambridge at the Anglia Ruskin University Campus Lord Ashcroft Building from 6.30pm on the 27 February.

If you would like to come to the public meeting the above link also includes directions.

This is *your* chance to have your say, the IRP will be producing recommendations and they will be voted on at Full Council AND, with a clear Conservative Majority, whatever the Conservative group decides to do with the recommendation will be what happens.

Liberal Democrat City Councillors Call For Pay Freeze For Councillors

A pay freeze for Cambridge City Councillors is on the cards after Lib Dems stepped in to halt an increase in their allowances.

The move would save taxpayers £26,000 this year.

Cllr McGovern

Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Customer Services and Resources, Neil McGovern said: “It was agreed last year our allowance scheme should be carried over for a further year while allowing for an inflationary increase.

“But clearly a great deal has changed in the last year and this is the wrong time for councillors to take even an inflation linked pay rise. People are losing their jobs and struggling to make ends meet and we are looking for any savings that we can make to ease the burden on our taxpayers.”

The recommendation to allow the allowance scheme to carry over for 2012/13 was made by the council’s Civic Affairs Committee in March last year.

But Cllr McGovern will tell full council on February 23 that the inflationary increase should not be taken.