Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

I awoke this morning with a burning desire to know how much our respected County Councillors claim in allowances for the sterling work they do on our behalf. So, I hot-footed it over to Google and asked the question.....

Here are the results in alphabetical order:

Jean Battle (L) Accrington South £17,250.70

Wendy Dwyer (L) Accrington West £20,097.03

Doreen Pollit (L) Accrington North £30,319.67

Susan Shorrock (L) Great Harwood £?

Dorothy Westell (L) Oswaldtwistle £17,028.17


These figures are from April 2004 to April 2005 and so Susan Shorrocks allowances will not appear on them, we will have to wait till next year's list is made available for that information.
It will also be notied that Jean Battle and Susan Shorrock are also members of HBC and claim allowances from that body too, so you can add eight grand or so to their totals.

Following on from this, I was moved to wonder just what it was that our respected Councillors actually did to justify helping themselves to such huge wodges of our hard-earned Council Tax?

From what I can see, in Jean Battles case, it appears to be trying to persuade the people of the borough in general and Huncoat in particular that it is a jolly good idea to site a massive waste treatment plant in Huncoat encroaching further on our rapidly dwindling green belt and putting wildlife and children at risk. Even though she assures us it is not a "done-deal" and even though the proposing authority is the same one that will rubber stamp the Planning Application.

Does anyone else know what our councillors do to justify their allowances. I would wager that Doreen Pollit's reasons for claiming thirty grand would make very interesting reading!

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

Weren't the figures printed in the Observer a few weeks ago, actually they must've been something else because it weren't as much as that, not bad though eh, at least we know where our money's going.

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

Your councillors live in the borough - one of our councillors (Rossendale) lives in Brussels - can you imagine his travel expenses!

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

£30k is not that much money - but I guess it does depend on what you actually do to earn it...

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

Errr......30K is considered not a bad wack in Accy. It is above the average wage for the UK as a whole and certainly for this area. I would guess that most people in Accy & North East Lancs would be very happy to get £575 in their wage packet every week, especially if it involved doing nowt, other than create mayhem.

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

So... house prices are less, earnings are less.

Does that mean that the price of petrol is less as well? Langton Green (part of Tunbridge Wells) was in the news recently with the most expensive petrol in the South East, at 103.9p per litre

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

about 95p/litre at the moment. Interestingly 'POSH' Knutsford is only 93.9 at the moment :)

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

Exactly. Alot of things, (apart from houses are cheaper) & earnings are less. That is why most people take exception to the level of these so called "allowances". It was not that long ago that councillors did the job out of a sense of civic duty; their only reward was respect and their only compensation was their legitimate expenses (bus fares to attend meetings, etc).

The simple fact is that to be elected to the council now is to get yourself a nice little earner; many of these councillors - certainly in Hyndburn - would otherwise be considered unemployable in any worthwhile activity. And that is why - irrespective of their political party -most people view the activities of these councillors with nothing but contempt.

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

How do you know what my job is? :D

Re: Get a job? Don't make me laugh!
 

Now we know that the best job to have when causing huges amounts of caos and not being sacked is to be an HBC counciller. Wonder how many will be there at the next election. Like most I put in an honest days work and wish I could earn the money they do for being a pain in the arther. On another point the BP refinery is in Grangemouth but that doesnt make the petrol cheaper here it is sometimes cheaper 10 miles away now that is sods law.