LIB DEMS PROPOSE £39,000 ALLOWANCES CUT (Southwark Liberal Democrats)

Southwark Liberal Democrats <info@southwark-libdems.org.uk>

LIB DEMS PROPOSE £39,000 ALLOWANCES CUT

April 26, 2007 12:00 AM

Liberal Democrats on Southwark Council are to propose a £39,000 cut to the councillors' allowances scheme from May as part of a programme that will save the Council more than £130,000 over the course of the next four years.

The new scheme will replace the scheme agreed as an interim measure by Council Assembly in January and will ensure that the Council meets the recommendations of the independent London Council review by the end of the four year term. When Labour last ran Southwark they imposed an allowances scheme which was substantially higher than the independent recommendations.

"I am delighted that Liberal Democrat councillors have agreed a proposal that will save at least £39,000 on the allowances scheme," said Cllr James Gurling, Chair of the Liberal Democrat Group. "This money will be freed up to fund front-line services."

"We have achieved this saving by meeting the independent review group recommendations over a 4 year period rather than in one go. Our scheme is in direct contrast with Labour's mess on this issue."

"Allowances will continue to reflect different levels of responsibility. Only one band will receive a rise of more than 3% in any of the next four years. This is because the allowances in that band, which includes the Leader of the Opposition, are currently significantly below the independent review group's proposals."

"We have also proposed a new scheme for those councillors who sit on the Licensing Committee. At present, all receive the same fixed allowance, on top of anything else they might get, regardless of how many meetings they attend. In the past year, one member attended 48 meetings and another only one - yet both received the same allowance of almost £3,000. Under the new scheme, councillors would be paid only for days on which they have meetings - and we can expect that this will generate even more savings to the budget."

"Labour are in a mess on this issue. On the one hand they proposed a cut in all councillors allowances, but on the other they have at least one member who is proposing a package which would increase the allowances budget by almost £1.5 million."

"Labour Councillor Sandra Rhule told Cllr Magazine that she favours full time councillors on full time pay. The cost of such a move is the equivalent of 100,000 hours of home help for needy local residents or the total refurbishment of three of our primary schools."

"Figures recently revealed by the Council show that Labour councillors had an attendance rate more than 10% worse that Liberal Democrats over the period since the elections."