A TORY councillor in Burnley has made a last-ditch bid to get a 60 per cent increase in allowances after a rise was refused by colleagues earlier this week.

Conservative councillor Peter Doyle, of the Whittlefield with Ightenhill ward, spoke out in favour of the rise suggested by an independent panel during a meeting of Burnley Council at the Town Hall.

The proposal was rejected by members of the executive on Tuesday as they were forced to cut more than £1million from the budget.

He said because elected members of the authority were paid 60 per cent less than other shire borough councillors, it made Burnley look like "amateurs". He said: "I believe at least one person should have the courage of speaking whenso many are scared of doing so.

"The amount has remained unchanged for many years. Are we saying we are not as good and don't work as hard? Because that's the impression we are giving.

"We need to attract more members who are younger, well educated and working and we can't do that if we do not move with the times.

"One of the reasons we are in this position now is because councillors have not been willing to make difficult decisions.

"We always put things off until another day but that day never arrives, so I would ask people to support an increase of councillors' allowances."

But despite his efforts, members again voted against an increase from £1,248 to £2,100.

Councillor Stuart Caddy, leader of the council added: "We have had to make savings of £1.2 million from the budget. We appreciate all the hard work that councillors do and people who become councillors should not expect to lose out financially.

"We should set up a small task group to look at the following year but we can't justify such an increase this year."