A MAYOR seeking £3,840 from her allowance says she is "disgusted" at the way she feels she has been treated by fellow councillors.

Ferndown mayor Liz Stevens spoke out after the letter sent from her solicitor Harold G Walker Solicitors of Bournemouth to deputy town clerk Paul Falconbridge asking for her allowance cash to be paid out was leaked to the Echo.

Cllr Stevens said she was only asking for recompense for genuine expenses from the mayoral allowance.

"I have put in a statement saying what it has cost me to be the mayor.

"The money is already there.

"I'm not asking for anything other than the balance of my mayoral allowance because it seems only fair to me.

"When I counted, up to Christmas I had done 93 engagements. We did 19 in 24 days in December alone.

"There was no way I was going to represent the town at something without looking the part."

She said her overall allowance is lower than any other mayor's has been.

Cllr Stevens asked councillors in November to swap the allowance and petrol budgets so the allowance portion was the higher one.

But they deferred the item to a full council meeting in January, when the request was declined.

At a later meeting, councillors including deputy mayor Roberta Lovett agreed to increase the allowance, but this will not start until the new mayoral year.

Cllr Stevens added: "The council stated that anyone should be able to be the mayor regardless of their financial circumstances and should not be put in a position where they would lose money.

"If you can't afford to put the petrol in the car in the first place it's pretty useless saying that most of the allowance will be for petrol with receipts."

Cllr Stevens said her year had been one of modest spending.

Clothing for official functions came from sales bargains and from Ferndown charity shop Pramacare to stretch her mayoral budget and put cash back into her community.

And she cut the cost of hosting her civic day in August to just £400 plus a £50 donation by scrapping a formal function in favour of a day trip to Slop Bog and Stapehill Abbey for other mayors and by preparing their buffet herself.

l Cllr Stevens is asking to be repaid the £250 she has paid for donations, church services and raffles, and £750 she has paid in lost monies after being forced to cancel her charity ball.

Expenses also include £560 for eight hairdressing trips and £700 for formal wear for herself, £460 for formal outfits for her partner, Paul Matthews, and £670 for formalwear and hairdressing for her daughter, both her official escorts.

All the cash would come from the mayor's allowance that has already been set aside.

Cllr Stevens is also seeking a formal apology for councillors trying to remove her from office, along with recognition that she remains the mayor.