WITH many Malvern residents already feeling that they had been short-changed when it comes to Malvern Hills efficiency, now the public purse is fleeced in order to pay for increased pay and allowances.

£350: The chairman of the audit committee now gets £350 per hour, plus travel allowance.

£262.50: The chairman of the standards committee now gets the equivalent of £262.50 per hour, plus travel allowance.

£131.25: The chairman of development control management committees; from £87.50 to £131.25 per hour (plus, of course, travel allowance).

£4.20: Other Malvern Hills district councillors average hourly pay rate equates to £4.20.

In percentage terms:

1%: Most staff (the ones that actually do the work) only got about on per cent pay increase.

6.5% : Nine out of 38 councillors will get an allowance rise of just over 6.5%

70%: The council leader's rise amounts to over 13%, with the deputy leader’s rise being a massive 70%.

Travel allowances amount to 45p per mile, subsistence and other travel (train etc) is also reimbursed.

Political group leaders now get an additional £1,050 each.

In complete contrast, Malvern Town councillors work for free, with no allowances, and no one is even asked which political party they belong to.

Martin Lawrence

Malvern town councillor