Councillors’ allowances

Being a past KCC member and a still-serving city councillor I feel compelled to comment on the KCC allowance increase.

Councillors are not employees, so no salary or employee rights are available to them.

They have each individually put themselves forward, seeking election, to serve their communities.

Allowances are, traditionally, supposed to reimburse the members’ expenses incurred in the process of their service.

This has clearly been abandoned and KCC members have become, in their minds, executives, not public spirited individuals serving the Kent community.

I have for many years trusted and supported Paul Carter’s Conservative Administration, though not always agreeing with Conservative policy.

That trust for me has evaporated with this decision, which is misguided in the extreme and indicative of very wrong priorities prevailing. The comments made by most of our local KCC representatives in defence of accepting these monies, displays some naivety. David Hirst city councillor for Greenhill

After years of service cuts, closure of residential homes for the elderly, closure of children’s centres and services for young people, I was shocked to see the Conservative Kent County Council vote for an increase of 15% on their allowances when an independent panel proposed a 1.5% increase.

The councillor for Swale East, Mr Andrew Bowles, voted in favour of this increase, which was not included in the Conservative manifesto or election addresses for the recent county council election.

According to their website, the KCC cabinet is made up of 10 members (all white) with nine men and one woman.

Public sector workers including nurses, teachers and firemen have experienced a real-term pay cut over the last eight years of 14%. When public service pay was recently debated in parliament Conservative MP Helen Whately voted to continue with the public service pay cap of 1%.

Many public service workers are struggling to cope and some have had to resort to using foodbanks. This is the reality of people’s lives to which the Conservative administration and our local MP seem oblivious.

The KCC councillor allowance has increased on average from £12,800 to £14,200, with cabinet members Daniel Hamilton took these stunning shots at sunset of wheat fields in Tyler Hill, Canterbury receiving much more. They also have had the audacity to backdate the allowance increase to May 5. Frances Rehal MBE chairman of Faversham and Swale East branch of the Labour Party