Light the Blue Touch Paper

[DRiddle]

and the £4,000 given to the Chair of Neighbourhood Forums for just 4 meetings (£1,000 per meeting) gives us a pointer as to what has gone wrong.

That's absolutely obscene. That should be given a lot more exposure. The residents of the town would be seething if that was in the wider public domain.

[steveL]

More obscene is the fact that the Remuneration Panel recommended that the £3,495 was cut back to £1,747 (£436 per meeting) and the Labour/Tory coalition refused.

[The Great Dictator]

When i was on we didn't get anything for Fire meetings, it was classed as a free meeting.

Chief fire officers are clever though, they suggested payments to councillors and in return get even bigger increases.

[one direction]

I think the basic view that most people would go along with is that a person shouldn't be any worse off because of their council duties but it's also just as clear that a growing number of councillors are seeing the role as a salaried position.

100% agree.

The issue to me is that if you are 4p or £4,000 better off by being a councillor then you are still better off.

To misquote Oscar Wilde.......

Oscar Wilde "Would you be a councillor for only 4p an hour? "
Councillor "Yes I think its a matter of civic pride and public duty"
Oscar Wilde "Would you be a councillor for £400 an hour? "
Councillor "No, that's an absolutely obscene amount of money, what sort of Councillor do you think I am?"
Oscar Wilde "We have established what sort of councillor you are, its now just your price we are negotiating"

Once you take any amount of money then you are part of the problem and not the solution. You stop being different and become just not as bad!

[WhatsHappeningNow]

So your saying driddle is the same as all the other councilors since he is 4p better off?

[Land Phil]

The money for councillors and MPs for that matter is irrelevant.

It is reputation that is the issue and the easy way to complain is to have a go at what they reward themselves with.

If all politicians worked in the interest of the greater public instead of themselves, brought a big employer to Hartlepool, kept the hospital open, didn't mess up planning, protected our historic buildings, kept taxation under control, delivered sustainable cultural events, negated the need for a food bank, linked us into the metro service, regularly brought ships to the town for renovation, closed all landfill sites near human habitation ...then who would care if they awarded themselves a 100% pay rise. 

[PostItNote]

The Great Dictator is absolutely spot on.

Remember when Sean Price got a huge increase, with huge speeches in Full Council about how worth it he was.

McCluckie was at that meeting helping, Wallace was on about £10,000 allowance for 'supporting'.  Look at Drummond getting a huge package for stepping up when there was an investigation when he was on the top table letting the payments for excellence go through! 

The same happened in the Fire Brigade, by giving huge allowances, councillors were paid to co-operate.

Please note, I am sure there were some good ones but when everyone knows, it even lets the good ones down for keeping their mouth shut and just going with it because it is hard to stop.  After all, councillors tell voters and constituents that they will go that extra mile, go by the law, etc. Sorry that it is hard, but that is the job that councillors take on, so they should do what they say before and after.

Hopefully there is hope because we have a bit of fresh blood in the chamber?

[The Great Dictator]

    I went the extra mile when i was on council to reveal nasty activities and was silenced at every opportunity.

    I visited NHS cheifs, Court cheifs and Police cheifs but they covered their friends ar*es at every opportunity.

    In the end i thought sod it, let them get on with it, corruption will always flourish in the establishment.

[WhatsHappeningNow]

unless the current controlling party get voted out and the new controlling party actually cares about the people in this town and follows any leads of corruption like you stated