A councillor has branded a debate on increasing allowances as a “public embarrassment”.
Members of Lichfield District Council voted against proposals from an independent remuneration panel to push up the payments to all 47 members from £4,298 a year to £4,734.
Cllr Alastair Little, independent representative for Hammerwich with Wall, had previously said he would vote against the increase.
He told Lichfield Live that residents would be disappointed to see so much airtime given to the issue in the first place.
“The council has been left in a state of public embarrassment. The debate was one of the longest one of this council term with the most speakers.
“But the council should be there to debate things that matter to the public, not to pontificate about giving ourselves a pay rise.
“This debate was senseless and should have been rejected.”
Cllr Alastair Little, Lichfield District Council
Calls were made for a named vote on the issue fell on deaf ears after 50% of councillors didn’t back the proposals and Labour opposition group leader Cllr Steve Norman chose not to request one, despite calls from some of his own benches for such a move.
Cllr Little said:
“Last night I seconded Cllr Colin Ball – a Labour member – for a named vote on the allowance increase.
“His group leader blocked the named vote from happening, which shocked me greatly as he has always been an advocate of transparency – a position he must be changing from with less than a year until the election.”
Cllr Alastair Little, Lichfield District Council
