Councillors' allowances are trouble

2:10pm Thursday 18th October 2001

SO, councillors' allowances rear their ugly head again and this time it's the Chiltern district's parish councillors who get the chance to catch a ride on the gravy train.

For centuries councillors have served their communities free of charge and without financial reward. They've slogged through endless meetings and conferences, chaired a lifetime of committees and attended countless tree-planting ceremonies. But for all their efforts they've never become a penny richer. Until now that is.

During recent years Tony Blair's Government, in its infinite wisdom, has been drawing up and implementing legislation designed to breath new life into local democracy. The idea is that if councillors receive at least some money for their time and effort, younger people and those who live in difficult circumstances will come forward for the job in larger numbers.

It sounds pretty good but unfortunately it hasn't really worked out like that.

Whether councils or councillors like it or not, the average bloke on the street doesn't know a lot about their local authority or its members. In fact the average bloke on the street would probably have great trouble in naming the three (yes, three) tiers of local government that exist to serve him.

The point of all this is that the general public doesn't understand a lot about the workings of their councils at the best of times. They do seem, however, to realise that councillors are unpaid and do the job out of the goodness of their hearts. So, needless to say, people don't take too kindly to the news that councillors will suddenly be taking home a pay packet.

Those in the know, know that the money councillors get paid under the new system is, at best, a token amount to take account of just how much work they do. Most councillors do work hard for the community. There can be no doubt about that. And many councillors, it has to be said, devote a huge slice of their lives to local democracy.

The sad thing in all of this is that the Government's new policy has been, in the most part, forced on to councils from above. Many councillors didn't want to be paid. They went into the job without the expectation of financial gain.

It seems to me that the whole episode has done far more damage than good. The new pay system for councillors does not offer enough cash to attract younger or poorer people into standing for office. Nor has it improved the average councillor's image on the street.

Whatever councillors have been criticised for in the past, they could never be accused of being on a gravy train. Now this argument, however unjust and misguided, can be used against them.

Chesham Town Council take heed.

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