๐๐โ๐ ๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ โ ๐๐โ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ
Following our recent budget amendment to scrap free sandwiches for councillors, a number of residents have asked me about my own record on council expenses. So here are the facts
For nine years as County Councillor, I have claimed:
ยฃ๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐.
No travel claims.
No subsistence claims.
No carersโ allowance.
No extra payments beyond the standard basic allowance.
That includes the most recently published four-year period (2021โ2025), where:
โข 
Councillors claimed ยฃ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ณ,๐ด๐ญ๐ฌ.๐ฒ๐ฐ in additional expenses in total
โข 
The average per councillor was ยฃ๐ญ,๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฌ.๐ญ๐ฑ
โข 
The average in the Arun area was ยฃ813
โข 
The highest single claim was ยฃ๐ญ๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ณ๐ต.๐ฌ๐ญ
โข 
There are 70 councillors in total
All of these claims are made under the rules and are publicly declared on the council website. Transparency matters. But for me, this isnโt about counting pennies. Itโs about consistency.
If we ask residents to tighten their beltsโฆ
If we talk about cutting wasteโฆ
If we propose removing small perks like free lunchesโฆ
โฆ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ. 
๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ฐ, ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐โ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐น ๐ฑ๐๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ. Because public service should be about service. ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐. ๐๐โ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ. And I continue to serve on that basis.