LIKE pretty well everyone else, I have been shocked by the revelations about MPs' expenses claims.
In the circumstances, and because many people have already questioned me about this, I thought the situation in this regard at St Edmundsbury Council might be of interest to your readers.
Allowances and expenses claimable by St Edmundsbury council
lors are set as a result of recommendations by an independent (ie non council) remuneration panel.
They are publicly available – as are the exact amounts actually claimed by individual councillors.
Expenses claimable must, of course, be wholly related to council business, are strictly controlled, and, not surprisingly as we are in such a rural area, are largely travelling costs (though councillors, while in office, do have the use of council laptops and broadband access).
I have asked our chief executive to double check the figures, but our intiial research reveals that over the last three years the total amounts actually claimed by St Edmundsbury councillors amounted to an average claim of approximately £250 per councillor per annum – or less than £1 per day.
I hope this may reassure your readers that St Edmundsbury councillors (of all political parties) are here solely to serve the people they represent, as they are elected to do, and not to seek any personal financial gain.
That is how it is – and how it should be!
I am not for one moment suggesting that St Edmundsbury councillors are special or get everything right for that matter, but I would like to thank them for their dedication and service to the people of St Edmundsbury.
May I also take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of parish and town councillors, voluntary workers and many others throughout Suffolk – and particularly west Suffolk – who do so much for our communities without any remuneration or reimbursement of expenses whatsoever.
CLLR JOHN GRIFFITHS,
St Edmundsbury Council leader.
