"It’s only right that we try to save money where possible"
Councillors voted to cut their level of allowances to save more than £156,000 a year.
The cost-saving plans were agreed at this week's Borough Council meeting, and will see councillors allowances immediately cut by 5 per cent.
Special responsibility allowances for the leader, executive members and committee chairs are also being reduced by 20 per cent.
Councillor Jagdish Sharma, Leader of the London Borough of Hounslow said, “In the light of government cuts to funding, it’s only right that we try to save money where possible, without reducing the service we provide to the borough.
“Like every other local authority, we are facing significant pressure on our budget as government departments reduce the amount of money we receive. As this makes up most of our funding we need to find areas where we can make savings in order for us to carry on delivering crucial services.
“The Government recently announced that Hounslow Council would receive £5m less funding than expected, and these allowance cuts amount to saving 3% of the total funding deficit which we will have to cope with.
“There’s a great deal of work ahead for us over the next four years, but we are determined to work hard to make this a better borough for everybody. We can assure you these cuts to member allowances will not affect the service we provide to the community of Hounslow.”
July 21, 2010