LEADING councillors at Malvern Hills could be in line to receive bumper pay rises.

Leader David Hughes is being recommended for a 20 per cent increase, boosting his allowance from £10,500 to £12,600, and his deputy Paul Swinburn could see his allowance rise by 17 per cent from £6,300 to £7,350.

Although the basic councillor allowance is setto remain unchanged at £4,200, an independent panel is also recommending new or increased allowances for several other high-profile council roles.

The panel says the positions require a lot oftime and commitment, with the leader’s role becoming increasingly demanding.

But the recommendations have outraged some local politicians, with Malvern Link councillor Mike Soley criticising the proposals as “more than extravagant”.

He feels the increases are “totally out of order” when council staff and public sector colleagues are receiving pay increases of just one per cent.

“It is totally the wrong thing to do when money is so tight,” he said.

“Everybody is having to draw in but it seems if you are high up in the council then you are the exception.

“Our staff are getting a pittance really and then we talk about increases like this.”

Three months ago councillors at Worcester City Council rejected similar recommendations to increase allowances for the leader and deputy by more than 20 per cent, and the basic councillor rate by 5.3 per cent.

Members of the district council’s controlling Conservative group met to talk about the pay proposals at a meeting this week.

They decided that they want to defer making a decision, and will ask the full council to support the delay when it meets onTuesday.

Coun Swinburn said they did not want to make a final decision of the pay increase because they were “not happy”

with several of the recommendations. He would not, however, be drawn on whether he would back an increase for himself.

“Whenever councillors vote to increase their own allowances we are dealing with fire,” he said. “We are quite prepared to implement things and take the backlash for costing them, but only if we think it is appropriate.”

Before the Tory meeting, Coun Hughes told the Gazette he did not plan to vote on the increase for his own position.

“Itis a very difficult one to make a judgement on your own worth,” he said. “I will leave it to the councilto judge.”

However he said he would back the increase for Coun Swinburn – whose allowance is currently the same as a standard portfolio holder.

“The job is a very responsible one and they get involved in lots of other activities which takes a considerable amount oftime.”

He also said criticism of extravagance was a “cynical” viewpoint.

“I would counter by saying look at the value for money people get from those serving them on the council.”