Travel costs add up at Kelham Hall

Members of Newark and Sherwood District Council claimed £29,351 in expenses during 2008-9.

The claims are for travel and subsistence costs incurred while carrying out their duties.

They include travel to and from meetings at Kelham Hall, meetings with officers, conferences, and other meetings connected to council work.

Payments to individual members range from nothing to about £2,000.

Mr David Payne, the council’s health and homes portfolio holder, was the highest claimant at £2,183.07, due to the number of meetings and conferences he attended.

These included a 510-mile round-trip to Torquay for the National Association of British Market Authorities conference and a meeting in Westminster of PATROL — a body that advises on the civil enforcement of traffic and parking regulations. Both matters come under his portfolio.

He also made a 688-mile round-trip to St Andrews for a planning summer school, attended by three other members of the council’s planning committee.

Mr Payne was joined by Mr Tom Bickley and Mr Brian Smith, who were given train tickets by the council so did not have to claim, and Mrs Pauline Jenkins.

Mrs Jenkins claimed for a return train ticket between Newcastle and St Andrews costing £54.80.

In a note attached to his claim, Mr Payne explains he went by car because he needed to get back to Newark for a Newark Town Partnership meeting on the afternoon the conference finished.

Mr Payne also represents the council on the board of governors at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust and Mansfield Crematorium, so trips to those meetings are included in his claims.

He said he had been claiming only since he retired, and for his first ten years as a councillor donated all of his allowances to the refurbishment of the Palace Theatre.

Members receive the same allowance as officers for mileage — 42.9p per mile for 451-999cc engines, 47.7p per mile for 1,000-1,199cc engines and 60.1p per mile for 1,200cc and above.

They can claim for child care allowance up to a maximum of £10 per hour, although only one councillor, Mr David Thompson, of Clipstone, claimed for that in 2008-9.

The basic members’ allowance is £3,600 a year but those with special responsibility get extra. The amounts are set each year by an independent panel and agreed by the full council.

Five councillors — Mrs Maureen Dobson, Mr Bryan Richardson, Mr Peter Prebble, Mr Keith Walker and Mrs Yvonne Woodhead — did not claim any expenses.

The leader of the council, Mr Tony Roberts, said no member could claim without a full receipt, and the conferences they went to had to be approved.

“We do actually husband our public’s money very carefully,” he said.

Mr Roberts said they had cut back on the number of conferences members went to and the number of members who were sent.

“We often send an officer to a conference but not necessarily a member,” he said.

Mr Roberts said local travel claims were a matter for individual members.

He said: “I personally never claim from Newark to Kelham, I see that as part of the job, but then again when you are living in the western area it becomes more expensive.

“I fully expect members to claim there.”