Panel recommends cutting Telford councillors' pay

An independent panel has recommended cutting the overall amount Telford & Wrekin Council pays its councillors, it was revealed today.

The findings of a review by the Independent Renumeration Panel propose lopping £9,500 off the £663,774 total the authority pays its councillors and co-opted members each year.

A handful of allowances for councillors with particular responsibilities would either be reduced or increased under the plan but the panel has recommended the basic payment of £7,583 is frozen for each of the remaining councillors.

The pay freeze could last until the next review due in four to five years time.

The recommendations come from a panel chaired by Professor Steve Leach, professor of Local Government at De Montfort University, Leicester.

His report says the basic allowance to councillors of £7,583 a year is in line with the average paid to councillors of a similar size and recommends it be frozen.

It also recommends for other positions where councillors receive a "special responsibility allowance" that too is frozen.

The panel does, however, suggest cutting the amount paid to chairmen of scrutiny committees. The top chairman gets £10,624 while the five others receive £7,870.

It is proposed, however, to increase the amount paid to the two minority opposition group leaders on the council.

It is further suggested the amount paid to the independent chairman of standards, who is not a councillor, be halved, from £7,870 to £3,935.

Council spokesman Nigel Newman said: "The review seeks to take account of the difficult economic conditions facing all councils and changes in the council's scrutiny arrangements."