Former Cheshire East mayor donates part of allowance to charities

Cheshire East Council’s former mayor has donated part of his allowance to charity and foodbanks after holding the post for two years, writes Belinda Ryan.

For the first time, Cheshire East had the same mayor for two years because of the Covid pandemic.

Because the £14,000 payment made to the mayor is not included in the list of councillors’ allowances posted on the council’s website, the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked if the money had been paid for the second year.

A Cheshire East Council spokesperson said: “The mayor of the borough is entitled to claim a remuneration of £14,000 for their year in office.

“During the year 2019/2020, this was paid to the serving mayor, Cllr Barry Burkhill, in accordance with normal procedure.

“Cllr Burkhill agreed to continue as mayor for the year 2020/2021.

“Due to the pandemic, it was not possible to hold the annual special meeting of council when a new mayor would have been elected.

“Cllr Burkhill continued to chair council meetings via Teams/Zoom over the internet during that second period in office.

“He therefore claimed the standard remuneration of £14,000 for that second term.”

The spokesperson added: “The members’ scheme of allowances does not require the mayor’s remuneration to be included in the schedule of allowances for members as it is not considered to be a special responsibility under the Local Government Act 1972.

“The council is extremely grateful to Cllr Burkhill for agreeing to continue in his role as mayor for a second term and to chair meetings of the council via the Internet during a very challenging period for the council.”

Cllr Burkhill (Handforth, Ind) said: “I would like to thank Cllr [Sam] Corcoran and the council for their kind words of support for me during a most difficult time for all of us to ensure Cheshire East Council, with members and officers together, continued to provide its services and its council meetings for the benefit of our residents.

“Although I have not stated before, I have made a substantial donation from the allowance to the mayor’s charity, including the many foodbanks which we have visited.”