ANY decision to increase allowances for BCP Council elected members should be delayed for a year, Labour councillors will argue.

An independent report due to be considered at its meeting tonight (Tuesday) recommends a raft of hikes, totalling more than £140,000.

Although the ruling Conservative group is due to put forward separate “cost neutral” proposals, Labour’s three councillors will also oppose planned £5,000 allowances for the six new lead members.

Put together by an independent panel, the report recommends all councillors receive a £1,000 basic increase to £13,500 a year because of higher-than-expected workloads.

It also says the six new lead members – or cabinet assistants – should be given £5,000.

However, the panel said it had no powers to recommend the planned reductions in leader and cabinet allowances to compensate for this.

Council leader Drew Mellor is expected to amend the recommendation scrapping the basic allowance increase and reducing his and cabinet members’ rates when it is considered tonight.

But Labour will lead calls for lead members to be given no extra money, saying it was a “reward” for helping the Conservatives take control of the council last month.

“The Conservatives look set to attempt to introduce a system that simply benefits themselves and their supporters and to penalise those who have opposed them,” councillor George Farquhar, the leader of its three-strong group said.

Councillor Lisa Lewis said it was “inappropriate and insensitive” to be creating new positions “when council services are being "cut to the bone".

Four of the six lead members are Conservatives with the other being independents Nigel Brooks and Steve Baron, former members of the Christchurch Independents and Poole People respectively.

Cllr Farquhar will put forward an amendment at the meeting saying any allowance increase should be deferred for a year due to the impact of the coronavirus.

“When we are once again in a national lockdown with many employees furloughed and local businesses worried about the future, now is not the time for councillors to be viewed as rewarding themselves an increase in their allowances,” he said.

“The way forward should be to defer all this and take a fresh look next year when hopefully our communities may be beginning to recover from the impact of the pandemic.”