Councillors called on to reverse decision to increase their allowances

Conservatives at West Berkshire Council should "do the right thing" says opposition leader

WEST Berkshire’s Conservative councillors are facing calls to reverse the decision to award themselves a 16.5 per cent increase to their basic allowance.

Last year, weeks after celebrating a 48-4 majority win at the local elections, the Tories voted through a recommendation by the Independent Renumeration Panel which saw its members allowances jump from £6,186 a year to £7,324 a year.

The council has repeatedly defended the decision, saying that even after the rise, it still receives the second lowest basic allowance in Berkshire and one of the lowest basic allowances amongst unitary authorities in the South East.

But with the cash-strapped authority having to make an unprecedented £17.5m of savings next year – the highest in its 18-year history – pressure for councillors to “do the right thing” is mounting.

Four libraries, children’s centres and care homes are facing closure as part of the brutal programme of cuts to public services.

The council’s opposition leader Alan Macro (Lib Dem, Theale) will make a formal request that the decision to accept the increases to allowances is overturned at a meeting on Tuesday.

He said: “It will save more than £50,000 a year going forward which could easily save one service from being cut.”

This week, local trade union UNISON said that the “inappropriateness and insensitivity” of councillors awarding themselves a 16.5 per cent increase in their allowances is being “brought sharply back into focus.”

The union claims that councillors now cost local taxpayers in excess of £500,000 per year, creating “a drain on funding that could and should be redirected to services for the public”.

Meanwhile the level of opposition to the council’s proposed cuts is continuing to grow across the district.

At a ‘West Berkshire Save Our Services’ meeting on Monday, angry residents were told to “fight as hard as they can” against the plans.

Two local trade unions have also joined the fight. GMB said the council should “have the guts” to stand up to the government, while UNISON described the proposed cuts as “extremely concerning”.

For full cuts coverage, see pages 6, 7, 8 and 9 of this week's Newbury Weekly News, out today.