"Councillors pay rise was purely optional" says Andy Kelly

Rochdale Lib Dem leader Councillor Andy Kelly has responded to complaints from Heywood residents by repeating that the 34% Councillor's pay rise was purely optional. Councillor Kelly was speaking after Councillor Liam O'Rourke, under pressure from angry residents at a meeting of Heywood Township claimed that councillors had "no choice" but to accept the 34% pay rise, 51% in the case of Council Leader Richard Farnell. Residents were angry after Councillor O'Rourke was alleged to have told the public that the Independent Remuneration Panel told councillors they "had to accept it and could not reject it".

Councillor Kelly said: "The public are already angry enough without being misled. I do not know if this was deliberate but I will make it clear again that the whopping pay rise was a 'recommendation' and purely optional. Don't take my word for it. Councillors on this authority have refused the recommendations of similar panels on the previous two occasions they met. In 2011, the council, under no overall control, turned down a pay rise, and in 2013 the Labour Council refused a pay decrease. It's a nonsense to claim otherwise. Labour and Conservative Councillors had a choice and they chose to give themselves a massive pay rise."

A petition to delay the increase until the amount of councillors is reduced from 60 to 40 has now surpassed 1,500 online. Lib Dems have also received huge numbers back in the post. They plan to join other campaigners and hit the town and district centres over the coming weeks collecting signatures. Councillors Andy Kelly and Irene Davidson will formally present the petition at the meeting on RMBC on March 1st. The January meeting has been cancelled.

Andy said: "I hope that Liam O'Rourke apologises for misleading residents in a public meeting. If it was genuine mistake and he was repeating what he was told by the local Labour leadership, then he should at least set the record straight. People may have a better understanding of the Councillor's motivations for the pay increase if they were more honest or checked the facts. People deserve at least that as they see services to the most vulnerable slashed by this under-fire administration."