Councillors who Snuggled-up to a Super Stipend

Editor Northern Voices:  ON Monday the 19 March 2018 the 

Rochdale Online website reported that in Rochdale the 

Councillor's allowances will 'top one million' pounds.

Helpfully, Carl Faulkner, the Independent candidate for

Spotland and Falinge, exposed how the Rochdale councillors

had shared out their generous stipend pay among themselves.

 Among the opposition, only the Lib Dem councillors 
Andy Kelly and Irene Davidson voted against the rises 
and refused the increase, meanwhile on the Labour 
side councillors Andy Bell, Malcolm Borriss, 
Chris Furlong and Billy Sheerin also refused the increase.
Of the 60 Rochdale councillors, according to Rochdale
Online, all the others including the Tories took the
extra State stipend either in part or in full.

Below Carl Faulkner gives his views on the way the Rochdale 
municipal establishment handled the issue of their own stipend:

NO MANDATE TO UP COUNCILLOR'S ALLOWANCES !
by Carl Faulkner

NOT a single councillor was press-ganged into becoming a councillor.  It is an entirely voluntary position.  Not a single councillor has ever stated that if elected, they will be wanting increased allowances.  

If the allowances were not sufficient, then they should have not stood or alternatively, stepped down – there would not have been any shortage of people willing to take their place.

The way in which the rise in allowances was brought about was indicative of the self-serving way in which councillors and senior council officers often act.  The public were given one week’s notice; the rise itself was timed to come into effect in a year that there were no elections.  

It was a cynical, deliberate act to exclude public opinion from the process.  But it was entirely consistent with the arrogant and underhanded way in which the public (and press) are deliberately excluded from major decisions of public concern.

But should we be surprised?   It is councillors who decide on the appointment of the Chief Executive.  It is the Chief Executive, at a time of his choosing,  who hand picks the panel who then recommended the extortionate rises.  The favour returned.

******

Council Chamber Jibe: 'Jobs for the Comrades'

DEMONSTRATORS outside Rochdale Town Hall at the full council meeting of Rochdale MBC were chanting '34% and we can't pay the rent!' last Wednesday night.  It was the reaction of the unions and UKIP supporters to the proposed rise in stipend allowances for councillors on Rochdale Metropolitan Council. 

Inside, Councillor Andy Kelly accused Richard Farnell, the leader of Rochdale's Labour Council for giving jobs to the comrades by paying a stipend to assistant portfolio holders as well as Cabinet members. 

These days the 'comrades' seems to include Ashley Dearnley and his little tribe of Tories because they joined with Labour to vote for the increase.  It was noticeable that some Labour councillors stayed away and gave their apologies last Wednesday. 

In the end only the two Liberal Democrat councillors, Councillors Andy Kelly and Irene Davidson, voted against the increase.  It was suggested that the proposal to increase allowances was brought forward now because next year there will not be elections for the council, and it is hoped by Labour that by the time of the next elections the public will have forgot what happened last Wednesday.