A CRAVEN councillor has questioned delays regarding a report into members' allowances and expenses.

The amount paid to Craven District Council members is set by the council itself, following recommendations by the Independent Remuneration Panel.

They include the basic allowance paid to all councillors – currently £4,200 per year – and the additional special responsibility allowance of £2,100 paid to the chairmen of committees.

The independent panel has been consulting with party leaders since last year, and a report with draft recommendations is due to be presented to the council's decision-making policy committee, although no firm date has yet been set.

Cllr Philip Barrett (Ind, Glusburn) has questioned the length of time it has taken and called on the process to be speeded up.

At the last full council meeting, he was told by authority leader, Cllr Richard Foster (Cons, Grassington), that allowances were still under discussion, but he hoped a report would soon be ready.

"Despite having raised it on numerous occasions, this report continues to held up by the Conservative leadership," said Cllr Barrett.

"When I raised it again at full council, for Cllr Foster to state at this late stage the views of the Conservative group hadn't been properly put forward is incredulous as all group leaders were contacted last October by the Independent Remuneration Panel to submit any comments from the respective groups.

"I promptly submitted the Independents' views stating they would strongly oppose any increases in member allowances."

He added: "Clearly, there has been a failure to consult properly with his group, which is still delaying the members' allowances report from being debated in public at council.”

A Craven District Council spokesman said: “The Independent Remuneration Panel is carrying out final consultations with political groups on draft recommendations before bringing a report forward to council in the near future.”

The current members' allowance scheme has been running since April, 2011, when the basic allowance was set at £4,200 per year.

On top of that, special responsibility allowances (SRA) included £7,500 for the council leader, £850 for group leaders, £700 for lead members and £400 for some committee vice-chairmen.

There is no SRA to the chairman and vice-chairman of the licensing committee. Councillors can also claim 40p per mile travel expenses and for breakfast or lunch if council business takes them more than four hours from their home.