Vote on move to slash allowances for six councillors

An independent review panel has looked at the 9,265 paid to the chairmen of new "local area action" teams and decided they should drop to 3,474.

The panel is also recommending scrapping dual allowances for those serving on outside committees like police and fire authorities, making an overall saving to the taxpayer of 34,746.

The payments to LATs chairmen were controversial because their predecessors, who chaired area forums were unpaid.

The five-strong panel – chaired by John Taylor – listened to representations from councillors who disagreed, but decided to stick with the recommendations, which will be put to members of East Riding Council on May 13.

They conclude: "We have carefully considered the specific issues put to the panel and believe what we are putting forward us a reasonable reflection of the different workloads and level of responsibilities falling on members of the council."

The panel said there was "substantial" work in setting up the local area teams but this had now levelled out.

It added: "The chairmen have a leadership role rather than a managerial or operational role and were helping the Local Strategic Partnership meet its objective at a local level."

The panel was asked by Lib Dem group leader Brian Jefferies to look at increasing the amount paid to the chairmen of planning sub committees who are paid three times less than the chairman of the main planning committee.

But it decided the allowances of 3,470 were "reasonable" when compared with other local authorities and the chair of planning should continue to get 11,300 a year.