THE letter from Conservative councillor Gordon Yarranton defending councillors’ allowances, could not be better timed.

It appeared in a week when it was revealed that county council leader George Lord (annual allowance £39,000) has been claiming for taxis from his own home in Bromsgrove to Birmingham at a cost of £50 a time, when a return train ticket would have cost £5.50.

The main purpose of my letter is to highlight to the electorate the extremely high “allowances” that are being paid to some of our elected representatives in Wyre Forest.

I have taken as a sample, five county councillors who also have district council seats, and calculated their individual allowances – these do not include any allowances they may be paid for regional duties, Housing Association duties, or any other, except district, county, police, and fire, (the latter two being unelected by us, the taxpayer). The figures also do not include any expenses claimed for travel (which is permitted at 39.5p mile) or other subsistence expenses.

The totals are as follows:

  • District Leader John Campion – £37,000
  • Deputy District Leader Marcus Hart – £33,500
  • Councillor Stephen Clee – £43,500
  • Councillor Fran Oborski – £20,000
  • Councillor Gordon Yarranton – £20,000

In comparison, an MP, whose workload is probably comparable to all five put together, receives a salary (not an allowance as suggested by Councillor Yarranton) of £60,000.

All figures are rounded to the nearest £500.

When you see these figures, one is not surprised that many councillors no longer have full-time jobs, or have gone part-time in their professions. They can even claim expenses from home to “the office” in these roles, unlike the rest of us who have to pay our own expenses.

In his letter, Councillor Yarranton says these allowances are to allow anyone to stand, but he fails to mention that those of us who work have limited time to canvass at election time or organise petitions etc whereas our “full time” councillors are effectively being paid to canvass.

When I was first elected a councillor, there were no allowances, but you were able to claim attendance allowance for any meeting to cover loss of earnings, and moderate expenses.

For many of the years that Louise Edginton has served the community, there were no allowances or expenses at all but she managed to do a damn good job. It was her letter regarding allowances to which Councillor Yarranton responded in last week’s issue.

I will leave it to the residents of Wyre Forest to digest these figures, and decide for themselves whether they are getting value for money from their elected representatives.

NIGEL ADDISON Former district councillor Mill Street Kidderminster