18 Comments

I am disgusted by his vote.

NNC was set up after the failings of the County Council as a slimmer, leaner, more efficient body.

Some members, including the Leader, were very involved in the workings of NCC during its bankruptcy period. Now they have given themselves an unjustified pay rise and want to increase the number of councillors, despite the fact they already have more than the number recommended during the setting up of this new council. The expressions "snouts" and "troughs" come to mind.

These councillors are a disgrace and show little genuine concern at the real people they were elected to serve - serve that ism not milk! If they cannot manage on their existing allowances they should resign and let's elect people who will live on it.

Once again, as in so many areas of public life, we are being led by people we cannot trust and who do not display the qualities needed for true leadership.

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founding

Amazing hypocrisy of the Conservatives. This should be front page news.

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The shamelessness and hypocrisy is breathtaking!

I really hope this becomes national headline news.

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It seems to me that not only are councillors getting a masive percentage increase they are also getting a bigger increase in cash terms for their part time jobs than most council workers are getting for their full time ones. It must be pointed out that it was tory councillors that voted for this not opposition.

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The Conservative members of the executive are to be congratulated for taking very careful aim before shooting themselves in the foot. An 11% rise in allowances, currently above inflation, is not a clever move when essential workers, who were applauded by the public during the pandemic, are being offered far less. Yes, the burden on executive members of NNC is heavy, but that is a political choice. There are other models of local democracy in which the burden is shared by all the elected members through a committee structure. This leads to better scrutiny and better decision making.

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Sounds about right for GRAVY TRAIN COUNCILLORS / GOVERNMENT officials!!

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Outrageous! I note you don't report anyone NOT taking the money. Boris seems to be setting the style for Northamptonshire. In some cultures this sort of set-up is known as a cartel.

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Some councillors have refused the increase including at least one Tory. A list of those refusing the increase should he published.

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author

Hi Paul, yes we will be asking this question.

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Did you ever get an answer? Am intrigued myself if I’m all alone in refusing….

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author

Long time ago and not sure we ever did - so will chase it.

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What do we expect, leopards to change their spots ? The current ruling body, very similar to the previous defunct body, just taking the same route. All the people who actually do the groundwork to keep the Authority going are awarded a paltry sum, and of course praise and applause for doing the essential work during the pandemic. What has happened to political public service. In the past it was an honour to serve and personal integrity was an important value.

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Jun 27, 2022·edited Jun 27, 2022

Rather than increase councillors to 99, based on non attendance why not reduce them by 25? Some towns such as where I live don't warrant having 3 unitary councillors? It's almost as if one of the three is there for a rainy day....then consider the percentage increase.

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The lot of them are not worth tuppence - as with WNC.

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What actually happened was that the three independent people who judge the allowances of councillors made a mistake last year - North Northants Councillors were paid less than West Northants Councillors. That has now been, mostly, corrected (although the award is NOT backdated). But it is much more "sexy" to report this as a "greedy pigs, snouts in the trough" story, than to honestly report that the matter was messed up last year - with North and West Northants getting two different levels of allowances.

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author

Not sure we've had a report described as 'sexy' before. As we understand it the two councils are two different legal entities so the allowances of the West should have no impact on those of the North.

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As far as I know, there were no Conservatives on the body setting allowances - unfortunately the members of the independent body did not attend the council meeting (one of them said he would have attended - but there was a rail strike on the day). But then you did not mention that the allowances are not set by the councillors. You now seem to be saying that councillors should get a different level of allowances depending on whether they are members of West or North Northants Unitary Authority.

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author

We did say that it was recommendation of an independent panel and that it was voted for by councillors. Point is that the comparison with the West is surely irrelevant as they are different local authorities.

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