COPIES of the current Members Allowance Scheme for Bury councillors are now available, free of charge, from the Democratic Services Department at the town hall.

A comparison with previous years gives an indication of how the index-linked formula used in the calculations has increased allowances. One should also take into consideration the other allowances available to elected members, such as for child care, and dependent carers, travel expenses and telephone allowances.

Councillors' basic allowance paid during 2001-2 was £4,197 compared with the 2004-5 figure of £7,050, which shows an increase of £2,853, whilst the special allowance for the leader of the council was £14,322 increasing to £22,322. If one refers back to 1998-99 the basic allowance for elected members was £3,458 and the leader of the council was paid a special allowance of £9,313, showing what the effect of index-linking has had not only on this but all special allowances. Also, it must be borne in mind that this is in addition to the basic allowance which is paid to all councillors.

One may ask why, as an independent member of the Standards committee, I do not make my concerns known in committee. The reason is that the powers-that-be have moved the goal posts!

Previously, independent members had been able to make recommendations regarding allowances but that responsibility has been taken away from Standards and given to another committee on which the independent members have a representative but do not have a vote.

One can only surmise why this change has been considered necessary because I have always -- at least when given the opportunity -- expressed concern about the index-linking of allowances. The above figures indicate why.

Due to the boundary changes for the local elections this year we now have a total of 51 councillors, three more than previously, which indicates that each will have a little less responsibility. If this is the case, how can any increase be justified for 2004-5?

A. WITHINGTON