Allowance for Crawley mayor is slashed

The changes have been suggested by an Independent Remuneration Panel and would save the borough council more than £21,000 per year.

They were discussed during a meeting of the governance committee on Tuesday (June 22) and recommended to a meeting of the full council due to be held on July 14.

In a report to the committee, the remuneration panel said the mayor’s £11,548 allowance was ‘notably high’ when compared to other local authorities.

The panel said it was ‘unclear’ why the mayor’s allowance was so high and there was ‘no justification’ for either increasing it or keeping it at such a ‘disproportionately high rate’.

They suggested it be set at £6,361 per year, which is the current regional average for the south east.

As for the car and chauffeur, the panel pointed out that they were ‘not fundamental to the role’ – and cutting them would save the council £15,696 per year.

The report said mayors should arrange their own transport and pay the expenses – such as petrol, parking, taxi fares and public transport – out of the allowance.

Given the relatively small size of the borough, those travel costs should not be too high.

As for the deputy mayor, their allowance could be cut from £1,800 per year to £954 per year.

If the full council agrees to bring in the allowance changes from August 1, £4,022 will be saved during the rest of 2021/22 and £6,033 during 2022/23 and beyond.