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COUNTY councillors who cost Hampshire taxpayers more than a million pounds last year must be more accountable, an inquiry was told.

A record should be kept and published of attendance at Hampshire County Council meetings, Christine Melsom, chairman of anti-council tax group, Isitfair, said.

Her call for greater transparency was made at a public hearing into the £1.23m allowances paid last year to the county's 78 members.

An independent panel is considering councillors' hours of work, levels of responsibility, and whether allowances should increase to attract younger and more ethnically- diverse councillors.

But Mrs Melsom, who lives near Alton, said: "Councillors receive ample remuneration for what they say they do.

"I say say', because we don't know what they actually do because there is a shroud of secrecy. I think they should have to be more open."

She said a register of attendance at full council and committee meetings would quickly identify "the hard workers and the slackers".

She added: "What has the council got to hide?"

Mrs Melsom argued there was no need for the council to reflect every age group or ethnic minority, and this must not be used as a "politically correct"

reason to increase allowances.

She said the county had too many councillors already, though the number was set by Government.

Rosemary Conway, a Winchester resident and fellow member of IsitFair, proposed councillors keep track of hours spent on council work and be paid an hourly rate of about £6, instead of a uniform allowance.

At present, all councillors are entitled to claim a basic allowance of £11,565, with extra cash for special responsibilities, regardless of how many meetings they attend or time spent on casework.

While the full council meets up to six times a year, councillors only have to attend one meeting every six months to remain a member and claim the allowance.

This means councillors could potentially attend just two meetings a year, at a cost to council taxpayers of nearly £5,782 each.

Miss Conway said: "I think it is wrong and quite unacceptable the current basic allowance is received by all councillors irrespective of the number of hours they work."

She said while some councillors were dedicated and put in the hours, others "did almost nothing" beyond attending about four council meetings a year.

But £11,000 was equal to the salary of a low-paid council tax payer working a 37-hour week, said Miss Conway.

Anti-council tax campaigners also criticised "double and triple hatters".

Half of councillors claim further allowances for sitting on district councils and public bodies like the police and fire authority.

Four county councillors are also district council leaders.

Janet Kelly, a member of Isit- Fair, who also gave evidence, said: "How can someone be a member of the cabinet and leader of a district council.

How is that possible?

"There are only so many hours in the day."

The panel, chaired by Peter Humphreys, the former chief executive of the Universities, Colleges and Employers Association, will produce a report in October.

It will be the first full review of council allowances in eight years, though councillors can choose to ignore it.

Councillors have also been asked for their views and to fill in a questionnaire asking about their age, hours of work and roles on different councils.

11:00am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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