Councillors defend allowance increase to cries of 'shame on you'

"Do you not see the irony and the shame?" asks Newbury resident

WEST Berkshire councillors faced cries of “shame on you” from the public gallery as they again defended their decision to award themselves a 16.5-per-cent increase to their basic allowances.

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

The council has 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 among unitary authorities in the South East.

But with the cash-strapped authority having to make £17.5m of savings next year, there have been repeated calls for it to reverse that decision.

Last week, the council was again forced to defend itself after coming in for more criticism from members of the public.

During the meeting, Newbury resident Lilian El-Doufani asked why councillors could not forgo the rises in order to “save money that could be spent on saving the libraries from closure”.

James Fredrickson (Con, Victoria), the council’s portfolio holder for finance assurance, said there had been no increase in the basic allowance since 2007.

He also argued that the allowance increase had actually saved the council money in the long-term because other allowances that councillors used to receive had been scrapped.

But Mrs El-Doufani said: “Do the councillors honestly not see the irony and do they not feel ashamed to take this at a time when there are cuts in force?”

Her question was met with applause from the public gallery and cries of “shame on you”.