To consider the above report

As both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor had declared an interest in this item, a Chairman was appointed for the duration of the item.

It was recommended by Councillor Bowden, seconded by Councillor E. Wilson and:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Councillor Luxton be appointed as Chairman for the duration of the item.

Members considered recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel to make amendments to the Members’ Allowance Scheme. Members noted the proposed amendments as detailed in the report.

Councillor Dudley highlighted that the Independent Remuneration Panel had recommended an SRA of £7185 for the Chairman of the Borough-wide Development Control Panel. This figure would be received by an individual if they were already the Chairman of a Development Management Panel, but they would no longer receive the SRA for the DM chairman role, to maintain the 1 SRA rule. The report recommended that, if the individual was not already a Development Management Panel Chairman, they would only receive the differential of £1198.

Councillor Kellaway highlighted that allowances were subject to taxation and National Insurance.

Members noted that the allowance of £3000 for Non-Executive Directors (NED) of Optalis was funded by Optalis rather than the Borough. Each NED would be allocated an allowance of £3000. Councillor E. Wilson asked what the £3000 was paying for, to be an NED of Optalis or to act as liaison between the council and Optalis. The payment was referred to as an allowance therefore it implied that the role was on behalf of Optalis. Councillor Dudley explained the allowance was to allow the NEDs to discharge their role and provide the necessary NED oversight, challenge and scrutiny. The council’s partner in Optalis, Wokingham Borough Council already paid their NED representatives £3000 therefore they had asked the borough to do the same. Councillor Dudley explained he would prefer to have avoided the payment of such allowances however the council was simply mirroring arrangements already in place at Wokingham.

Councillor Bicknell commented that he was pleased to see the Mayoralty being recognised; this would make it easier for young people or the less well-off to undertake the role. Councillor Luxton commented that she was particularly pleased to see the allowance for the Deputy Mayor who had to drive themselves to events and find parking etc. It was noted that the proposal to backdate the allowance was to align the payment with the municipal year. Councillor Dudley thanked Councillor Luxton, who had been involved in promoting an SRA for the mayoralty for some time.

It was proposed by councillor Dudley, seconded by Councillor Coppinger and:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Full Councilnotes the report and considers proposals detailed in Appendix A by the Independent Remuneration Panel:

i)    A Special Responsibility Allowance be paid to the Chairman of the borough-wide Development Management Panel, payable at a level of the Leader’s allowance multiplied by 30% (£7185). The principle of one SRA per Member to be maintained as follows: If the postholder is already a Development Management Panel Chairman, they would receive the higher SRA of £7185 only. If the post holder is not already a Development Management Panel Chairman, they would receive an SRA equivalent to the incremental difference (£1,198) between the Development Management Panel Chairman SRA (£5,987) and the Borough-wide Development Management Panel Chairman SRA (£7185).

ii)   A Special Responsibility Allowance of £3,000 be paid to the Mayor and a Special Responsibility Allowance of £1,000 be paid to the Deputy Mayor. The principle of one SRA per Member be maintained.

iii)   Amendments to the scheme relating to Special Responsibility Allowances for the Chairman of the Borough-wide Development Management Panel, the Mayor, and the Deputy Mayor, be backdated to 23 May 2017, the start of the 2017/18 municipal year.

iv) A Special Responsibility Allowance of £3,000 per annum be paid to the three councillors appointed as Non-Executive Directors to the Optalis Board and be backdated to 1 April 2017, the date of the formation of the new joint service.  The principle of one SRA per Member be maintained.

v)    £5,198 be added to the Members Special Responsibility Allowance budget to cover the full year costs.

vi)  Delegates authority to the Monitoring Officer to amend the Members’ Allowance Scheme in the Constitution as appropriate.

(Councillors Burbage, Lenton, Quick and Story took no part in the debate or vote).