Councillor under fire as only one to claim travel expenses – worth £2.25 – last year
A councillor has come under fire for being the only member of an authority to claim travel expenses last year – £2.25 for travel to a council meeting.
Councillor Adrian Lawrence, a Conservative on Telford & Wrekin Council, has been criticised by the authority's Labour administration, with a cabinet member even calling on him to pay the money back.
However, the Muxton councillor has said it was a standard entitlement and normal practice to claim for mileage to meetings.
The deputy leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, Labour Councillor Richard Overton, said Councillor Lawrence was the only one of 54 councillors to claim the expenses, and that the money should be paid back – with an apology to the public.
He said: "It’s absolutely appalling that Councillor Lawrence felt the need to claim £2.25 expenses to go from his home to a council meeting, especially during these unprecedented times when people are struggling with their finances and trying to make ends meet.
"It is a humiliating insult to normal hardworking people who can’t claim money to go from their home to the workplace.
"I do hope that he looks at his actions, pays back the expenses forthwith and apologises to the residents of Telford and Wrekin.”
Councillor Lawrence said: "Councillors in the existing scheme are entitled to claim for attending a meeting and it has been my routine to claim for travel to a meeting – with Covid there have been barely any meetings to travel to but where I did attend I submitted the claim.
"It is just a standard entitlement, I do not see anything unusual about that. I do not see the big issue with claiming £2."
Councillor Lawrence said he believed it was a case of political mischief-making from his opponents.
It is the second acrimonious incident between Telford's Labour and Conservative groups in the space of a few weeks, with the parties falling out over comments made by Labour cabinet member David Wright to Conservative leader Nigel Dugmore.
In that instance Councillor Wright accused Councillor Dugmore of attacking council officers and not him directly because "you know you will get a whack".
Councillor Dugmore said he was "disappointed that Councillor Wright felt the need to threaten me with physical violence", and called on the former Telford MP to resign.
In response Councillor Wright apologised and added: "I obviously meant whack him in debating terms."
Telford & Wrekin Council is still deciding over whether any action should be taken about the comment.
