Councillors' expenses increase (From Witney Gazette)

Councillors' expenses increase

THERE has been a significant rise in the expenses claims of councillors sitting on Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council.

Expenses: Rising well above inflation

City councillors claimed £242,804 in the financial year to April 2006 for travel and subsistence, special responsibilities and other allowances.

This was £40,000 - more than 19 per cent - than the financial year to April 2005.

Their county council counterparts claimed almost ten per cent more in the last year compared to the year before - £818,491 in the 2005/06 financial year, £74,181 up on the £744,310 claim in 2004/05.

This means that the expenses and allowance claims of city and county councillors topped £1m.

According to official statistics, the leader of Oxfordshire County Council Keith Mitchell claimed the most in expenses - £35,628.28, nearly £3,000 a month, for his civic duties in the last year.

Mr Mitchell claimed £10,060.22 for travel and subsistence and £18,163.34 for special responsibilities to add to his £7,404.72 basic allowance. The total he claimed was £1,275 more than the £34,353 he claimed in 2005/06.

The average claim for county councillors - our list includes those who retired or were defeated at the last election - was £11,060.

However, the figures for Oxfordshire do compare favourably with other authorities in the area.

For example, Mr Mitchell gets £18,163 as a special responsibility allowance - 30 per cent lower than the South-East average, while the backbench county councillors' basic allowance of £7,404.72 is well below the South-East average of £9,964.

The average claim from councillors at Oxford City Council (including those who lost their seat at last year's election) was £4,856.

Alex Hollingsworth, the leader of Oxford City Council in 2005/06, claimed £10,774.66 while current leader John Goddard claimed £6,246.

Councillors are not paid a salary for the work they do, but can claim allowances for expenses incurred during the course of their duties.

Apart from the time they put in, these include travel, hotel, food subsistence and childcare.

Mr Mitchell, 60, who is also the chairman of the unelected quango Seera, the South East England Regional Assembly, is a former chartered accountant.

He said he could "earn a minimum of ten times" what he claimed in expenses if he had not sold his business interests, and had previously insisted he was worth every penny of his claim. He told The Oxford Times: "I work 100 hours per week in this job."

Some of the county councillors claiming less than £7,000 expenses included Green councillors Larry Sanders, who represents East Oxford, and Chip Sherwood, who represents the Isis ward. Woodstock Tory councillor Ian Hudspeth also claimed under £7,000.

Labour city councillor Ed Turner said the reason for the large increase in city councillors' allowances was that additional payments were made to those councillors who sat on 'seemingly endless' new licensing hearings, which always occurred during the working day and led to a substantial loss of income to many people.

He said the extra was for one year only and recommended by an independent panel.