Conservative Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has been asked to investigate why Tory councillors on Surrey County Council (SCC) voted themselves huge increases in allowances last week.

Last Tuesday, Conservative-led SCC considered recommendations for changes to the basic and special responsibility allowances paid to councillors, which were last increased in July 2010.

A report by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) had made recommendations for changes to the different allowances paid to councillors - some of which were ignored by Conservative councillors who tabled amendments, without prior notice.

The IRP recommended that the special allowance paid to the leader of the council be increased from £27,000 to £35,548.  The Conservative councillors bumped this up to £43,000.

They also voted to increase the deputy leader’s special allowance from £19,500 to £31,250 - even though the IRP had recommended a rise to £30,333.

But the council accepted the IRP’s suggestion that the basic allowance of the 81 councillors be increased from the current £11,791 to £12,418.

The changes take the allowances paid to the leader of the council up to £55,418 - a more than 60 per cent increase.

On Monday all three members of the IRP resigned in protest over councillors’ "flagrant disregard" for the recommendations it had made.

Councillor Hazel Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrats on SCC, said she has written to Mr Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, asking him to investigate the way in which the decisions were taken and whether they complied with Government regulations.

She said: "I am doing everything possible to challenge these inappropriate decisions on behalf of Surrey residents, who have to foot the bill for these excessive increases for councillors.

"I hope the Secretary of State will undo these decisions so that more reasonable allowances for Surrey county councillors can be put in place."

In her letter, Coun Watson said the increases were not in line with IRP’s recommendations and were tabled by the Conservative majority at the last minute "with no openness and transparency".

All bar six Conservative councillors voted for the increases, while all opposition councillors voted against them.

A spokesman for the Conservative group on Surrey County Council said: "The IRP’s role is to make recommendations to council.  The elected councillors make the final decision.

"The IRP should have ensured that the amounts proposed reflect the level of responsibility expected from these posts.

"Many of these roles equate to a full time job, particularly in light of the additional duties handed down from central Government, and in order to attract a wide-range of people with diverse backgrounds, it is vital that the remuneration is at an appropriate level."

A SCC spokeswoman added: "The Government has given county councils 42 new responsibilities since 2010 and these have increased the workload for the cabinet and other senior councillors.

"There has been no review of allowances for four years and while that was the right thing to do at the time it is now important that they are adjusted to reflect increases in roles and responsibilities."

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