South Holland district councillors asked to accept 2.2% allowance increase

South Holland district councillors have been asked to accept a 2.2 per cent pay increase.

An independent panel of four members has made the recommendation to a meeting of the full council tonight (Wednesday).
The increase would see a councillor’s basic allowance rise from £6,000 to £6,132.

Councillors have been canvassed for their opinion on the level of payments.
A report to the meeting said: “In general, the views of members indicated that they felt that the allowances that they received were appropriate for their role as a councillor, reflected in the basic allowance of £6,000 per annum, and for any additional responsibilities that they had, reflected in the special responsibility allowances.

Members also felt that a reduction of the chairman’s allowance to £3,800 in 2013/14 “restricted the ability of the chairman to adequately conduct the civic role” so the independent remuneration panel recommended it was reinstated to £4,250.

The new scheme, which covers the period from April 1 this year to March 31, 2016, includes the following additional special responsibility allowances:

• Leader (currently Coun Gary Porter) £19,745
• Deputy leader (Coun Nick Worth and Coun Malcolm Chandler) £11,651
• Portfolio holders (place – Coun Roger Gambba-Jones; housing – Coun Christine Lawton; community development – Coun Gary Taylor; facilities management – Coun Anthony Casson; finance – Coun Peter Coupland; legal, performance and democratic services – Coun Sally-Ann Slade) £5,825
• Licensing chairman (Coun Angela Harrison) £4,855
• Planning chairman (Coun Roger Gambba-Jones) £4,936
• Policy development panel chairman (Coun Michael Seymour) £3,949
• Performance monitoring panel chairman (Coun Bryan Alcock) £3,949
• Council chairman (Coun Francis Biggadike) £4,344
• Council vice-chairman (Coun Rodney Grocock) £1,382
• Leader of the main Opposition (Coun Angela Newton) £5,825

The independent remuneration panel was established by the council in 2011. The current membership is chairman Peter Haselgrove, Carl Holland, Steven Lloyd and Nicci Marzec.