Expenses row

Councillors are employed by the council and are accountable to the electorate.

To be fair, in the case in question, it all depends what the terms of employment are. Are Arun councillors employed full-time or part-time?

If they are employed as full-time employees, then any absence in excess of, say, four weeks plus bank holidays per annum would, in my opinion, be unreasonable.

By this I mean not being available to physically attend council meetings.

On the other hand, the level of expense allowances referred to is reasonable if the arrangement is for part-time availability, assuming that the rules have in this instance not been broken.

What I do find shocking is, as with all public bodies the multi-layer of councils, parish, district and county.

I cannot accept that the numbers of councillors is necessary.

John Sykes

Arundel Gardens

Rustington

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