A SENSE of djM- vu accompanies the disclosure that councillors at Burnley have voted to set up an independent panel to review the level of allowances they are paid for council work.

For have we not been down this path before - with the recent case of councillors' allowances at Blackburn going up ten-fold after a similarly-appointed commission reported back?

Is it a case, then, of their counterparts at Burnley looking on and deciding that they would like some of that?

But what is the reason for this review at Burnley?

Blackburn, after all, had a rationale for its review. The town is receiving self-run unitary status, with which comes more work and responsibilities for its councillors.

Yet if Burnley cannot offer such a case for a review, it might do more to explain why one is wanted.

And these councillors would do well to observe another aspect of this precedent - the vast amount of taxpayer anger that accompanied the pay rise.

For if Burnley councillors want what Blackburn got, they should look at the whole.

And, besides, if this is a truly independent review, might there also be a case for the allowances going down as much as up?

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