Petition seeks to cut top pay at Telford council
Monday 17th October 2011, 7:00PM BST.
A campaign has been launched to ensure the next person appointed to take the reins at Telford & Wrekin Council is paid 10 per cent less than their predecessor.
The petition, which says in the current climate anyone appointed as the council’s new ‘managing director’ should have their pay slashed, has been launched by Shropshire Tax Payers Alliance
Denis Allen, from the Alliance, said it would be unacceptable if the person brought in to replace the departed Victor Brownlees received a massive wage.
Mr Brownlees left the council as chief executive in July. He was paid £149,000 per year.
Mr Allen, a former member of Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “We believe that if the person brought in to replace Mr Brownlees is on a similar wage that it would be unacceptable.”
He added: “This is an opportunity for the council to bring someone in on a sensible wage.
“I lost my seat on the council this year but had previously represented different areas from 1979.
“So I know how much waste goes on at the council.”
Mr Allen added: “I think the people they are getting rid of at the council do the hard work and the management attend a lot of meetings.
“The Shropshire branch of the Tax Payers Alliance has only just been launched and this is our first campaign. Hopefully people will support it and sign the petition.”
Council chiefs said that they are looking to appoint a replacement for Mr Brownlees early next year and stress the incoming managing director will be on a lower wage.
Council leader Councillor Kuldip Sahota said: “The council has always said that the new managing director role, which we expect to recruit to early next year, will be a different more hands-on role than the chief executive’s was.”
Less
He added: “We have always been clear that the new managing director role will be paid less than the chief executive’s post was.
“A further review of the council’s senior management is expected shortly which will give detail of the difference between the salaries, but we expect that this review will add to the £1.75 million a year we are already saving by more than halving the number of senior managers in the council in the last two years.
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They need the same initiative in Shropshire, but make that 20% less for Riley’s successor (sooner rather than later).
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Only 10%? I am sure they could find someone quite competent to do the job well and efficiently for half or less.
Prove me wrong?
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Denis Allen?
He changes his political spots more than I change my underwear. UKIP. TAWPA. Tory. And now the Tax Payers Alliance.
The TPA is an arms-length Tory front operation run by big powerful business interests who want to remove themselves from paying tax. The TPA are exploiting the taxpayer rather than protecting their interests as they claim to do.
Mr Allen should work out who he really represents, he doesn’t speak for this tax payer.
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at least he’s clean ,er hem…..
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Denis Allen Conservatives – UKIP – TAWPA and now the Tax Payers Alliance – maybe he should spend more time deciding where his own loyalties lie rather than this business
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isn’t he actually a member of all except the conservatives who exclude membership of other political organisations?
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I don’t buy the claim that you have to pay huge salaries to attract the right calibre of applicants to senior public positions.
When you appoint a chief executive to a local authority, the motivation to serve the public well should be more important than the motivation to earn lots of money – cut the pay by half and you’ll get someone who is in the job for the right reason.
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I agree I dont believe there is any one in any business sector who as a employee is worth more than 60k a year unless they’re the self- employed owner actually creating the wealth.
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Pay im’ nowt!. A new chief exec is not needed. Plough the money saved back into vital services…..and I don’t mean more bean counters. Care of the elderly, initiatives to train up and reduce the number of young persons who can’t find employmnet or training, debt advice etc…
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too late! do you know what there paying for the child services chief?
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“train up and reduce the number of young persons who can’t find employmnet or training,”
Don’t we already have schools for this?
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I wonder why Councillor Allen and his friends in the Taxpayer’a Alliance aren’t interested in saving the £150bn we give in tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the country – that’s taxpayers’ money too!
Councillor Allen appears to have a bit of a bee in his bonnet about public servants and councillors. He previously claimed in a letter to the Star that public servants could get pensions that were almost as large as the salaries they retired on – in fact, the maximum available after a lifetime of service is approx. 50% of final salary. Where did he find the figures he was quoting? Surprise, surprise, the only other publication using his faulty figures was the Daily Mail – who had reported this inaccurately!
He obviously made no attempt, despite his access to the council, to check his facts. If I were one of those unfortunate enough to be represented by him, I’d want to know why he didn’t bother to look further than a tabloid rag for his ‘facts’.
Moving to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, readers should not have the mistaken impression that this is some sort of ‘grass roots’ organisation. At its head are a number of people with links to the right wing of the Conservative party, and they have links to the US ‘Tea Party’ movement, and the right-wing ‘Freedom Association’.
In 2009, it was admitted that one of the then directors, Alexander Heath, had in fact paid no UK taxes for many years, as he lived in France. Amongst past major supporters of this group, which many see as a Conservative Party ‘front’ group, has been Stuart Wheeler, a previous financial supporter of the Conservatives, and latterly a UKIP supporter.
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disagree entirely with this political comment, the general public are being invited to sign a petition which is clearly populist,it doesn’t matter what your political persuasion is this issue has nothing to do with out dated tribal dictum , socialist or otherwise.
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So pete – don’t you believe that a group who style themselves as somehow protectors of the public purse and of taxpayers’ money should be concerned at the huge amount we give to the rich? They should be – yet they are not.
Don’t you understand that far from being a grass roots organisation, the TP are in fact backed by big business – the very people who want to see the tax breaks continue? You’re being astonishingly naive.
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you have an entirely fallacious argument concerning tax revenues where as the issue concerns the spending of public money, a grass roots populist petition which I trust you would support ?
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Good for Mr Allen, it’s about time someone made a stand against these over paid public “servants”.
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Right wing this – right-wing that – connections to this – connections to that! What a very “LEFT WING” tribal tirade!
Why should you expect Alexander Heath who has not lived in this country since 1973 and who does not earn any money in this country and does not own any property in this country, to pay British tax? I think you should expand your reading and not just misinterpret misinformation from the Guardian. Alexander Heath is still a British citizen but he is a French taxpayer (where taxes are higher than in the UK!).
The Tax Payers Association says it is interested in public spending by government and local government. It says the taxpayers have a right to scrutinise how their money is being spent.
You disagree? Perhaps you believe we have no right to see how our money is being spent.
The TPA’s mission is:
To reverse the perception that big government is necessary and irreversible
To explain the benefits of a low tax economy
To give taxpayers a voice in the corridors of power
Perhaps you don’t like the fact that the TPA revealed the true extent of taxpayer funding of union activists? It seems Old Labour is concerned about the influence of the TPA, they of course do not believe in small government or low tax, mind you neither does this Conservative party.
The “RIGHT WING” Freedom Association believes in the freedom of the individual in all aspects of life to as great an extent as possible. As such, they seek to challenge all erosion of civil liberties and campaign in support of individual liberty and freedom of expression.
Of course if you are for MORE TAX – MORE GOVERNMENT SPENDING and no voice for the ordinary tax payer. If you do not believe in civil liberties or that we should be as free as possible from government interference in our lives, if you do not believe in holding our government to account, then you will not approve of the Tax Payers Association or the The Freedom Association.
As to Denis Allen and this pathetic 10% cut who cares, a better question is why do we need to pay anywhere near these amounts to local government mandarins, don’t we supposedly elect councillors to run the council, seems to me we have allowed a situation to develop where the tail is wagging the dog.
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Ken,
Perhaps you’d care to comment on the fact that more than 50% of funding for the Tories came from the very financial institutions who nearly brought the country to bankruptcy? We are all the customers of these financial institutions – why are they spending money on political activities and passing on the cost to us?
It’s a bit like the argument that people make against the TV licence – they object to paying for the BBC – but they pay for commercially-funded television in almost every product they buy – they just don’t see that.
In a civilised working environment, it’s quite usual to allow paid time to Union reps to carry out legitimate activities – this happens in the public and private sectors. This is no secret – and never has been – the idea that the Taxpayers’ Alliance somehow ‘revealed’ this is risible.
I don’t want more tax – I just want everyone to pay their fair share as a proportion of their income – even you couldn’t argue that the rich are doimg that. If they did so, ironically, the majority of us could pay less tax – we could cut VAT again for example
Why are you and your friends in the Taxpayer’s Alliance not interested in correcting that inequality?
The idea that the Taxpayers’ Alliance is somehow non-political is ridiculous – they are a front organisation for the right – backed by big business and senior Tories who want to shift the tax burden away from the wealthy and towards the poor.
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I think you are moving the debate to a different area, your points about Conservative funding might have some relevance and might well be a debatable, but I do not see how it fits in with the TPA points you were making before. To say the TPA is a front organisation for the Conservative party is to miss the point, they are not a front for the Conservatives they are disillusioned conservatives.
The TPA was formed by conservatives who felt the Conservative party were not offering conservative values, so it is little surprise that they are basically conservative in outlook. And going back to Allen some seem to think he is flighty because he was Conservative and is now UKIP and TPA but that actually makes sense, if you believe the the Conservative party is wrong on big government and wrong on the EU, which amount to the same thing. Don’t forget despite all the misplaced hype about cuts this government is presently spending and borrowing more than ever.
I do not think the TPA is non-political they clearly are, they have a political agenda, it might not be one with which you agree, but they are open about their political aims.
To reverse the perception that big government is necessary and irreversible
To explain the benefits of a low tax economy
To give taxpayers a voice in the corridors of power
If you do not agree, that is your prerogative, but you are trying to paint them as RIGHT WING MONSTERS and totally beyond the pale because you disagree with their political views. On one side you have big government and big tax bills on the other small government and low tax bills. Unfortunately we the voters no longer have that choice with the main parties because they are all big government big tax bill.
The BBC debate is that it has the power to collect fees directly from the public for using ANY television service, that is a different concept than companies paying to advertise and us paying them if we choose to use their services. However your point about us all paying for the advertising by increased costs and charges is well made, I do not disagree and personally I try to avoid companies that sponsor sporting events or are always advertising, because I know that I will be paying for it if I use their services, I even changed my bank because of their constant advertising. One thing that really annoys me is when I see charities that are in receipt of public money advertising.
The TPA has its own remit (and they are not my friends) you should ask them why they do not follow your ideas about big government. But I feel your argument that the TPA want to shift the burden of tax onto the poor is misplaced, they want the government ANY government to take less and spend less from ALL OF US.
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They should cut all public sector management pay. they can then use this to hire a better set of front line staff and perhaps pay them better. And while we are at it, stop these massive pay outs for staff and stop paying councillors so much.
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What worries me is that you have the right to vote – and your vote counts as much as mine! Doh.
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Oh, dear PHB, does someone with common sense and intelligence,having a vote worry you….so it should, too!
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i would support this
left or right
less pay for the top people is a good thing for EVERYONE
shropshire council should follow suit as should the premier league and the bankers
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Occupy Telford.
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