No councillor should receive an allowance of over £1290 per minute

Local Labour councillors have reacted angrily to the news that a councillor on Tendring District Council has received the equivalent of £1293.25 per minute for sitting in the public gallery and watching a meeting of a council committee.

Under the rules governing councillors’ attendance at meetings a councillor is required to attend a meeting at least once every six months but, at present, this can simply be as an observer.

Conservative councillor, Andrew Massey, has complied with this requirement by sitting in the public gallery as an observer of a Local Council Tax Committee meeting which began at 10AM on 21st February and concluded at 10.02AM.

This action entitled him to receive his councillor allowance for a six month period, a total of £2586.50.

There are presently 3 councillors on TDC who are receiving their member’s allowance for sitting in as an observer on an occasional meeting – Conservatives Andrew Massey and Giles Watling and Non Aligned Laurie Gray.

Labour believes that this is bringing the entire council into disrepute and has tabled the following motion for the next meeting of the council on Tuesday, 27th March:

Propose that Council resolves that Article 2 of the council’s constitution, ‘Members of the Council’, be amended to include as an additional paragraph:

“2.06 Attendance
It is a requirement that a Member does not exceed 6 months without attending a meeting of the Council or attending a meeting of a committee or sub-committee of the council either as an appointed member of a committee/sub-committee or as a substitute member of a committee/sub-committee”

The motion has been tabled in the name of Cllr Garry Calver, the Deputy Leader of the Labour group and he hopes that it will have the support of every political group on the council.

Garry Calver says, “This situation is descending into a farce. These councillors are exploiting the wording of the legislation and, by so doing, are undermining the public’s respect for the hard working councillors in all parties who put in the hours and attend all of the meetings. All three of them should be ashamed of themselves.”

For further information please contact: Garry Calver on 01255 551940
Labour Group of Tendring District Councillors