Wednesday 2 November 2011

Petition lauched on £1000 councillor ACF expenses

Following revelations in the Brent and Kilburn Times that Brent councillors who chair  Area Consultative Forums ( held 4 times a year) receive more than £4,700 a year for doing the job, a petition has been launched on Brent's e-petition website. It calls for the payments to be reduced to £100 per session. The recent forums had low attendance following the council's decision to stop sending out postal reminders to residents as a cost-saving and environmental measure.

The petition can be signed HERE

It says:

We the undersigned petition the council to reduce the allowance given to chairs of Brent's Area Committee Forums to no more than £100.

At a time when the people of Brent are:
- Having to accept reduction in services such as street cleaning
- Having to accept losing half their libraries
- Having to (accept) a fall in real terms wages because employers either give below inflation pay rises, or no pay rises at all

It is not fair that chairs of area committees continue to receive large sums of money for chairing these forums. Some reports have claimed that chair people receive £1000 per session.

One would think that these individuals would be happy to carry out this important public service for free. Indeed I'm sure that a lot of residents would be happy to do so for no more than their bus fare.

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