Some Macclesfield councillors claimed no additional expenses last year due to the pandemic.

Cheshire East paid out more than £1.25 million in allowances and expenses to its 82 councillors during lockdown – a reduction of nearly £39,000 on the previous year.

The reduction of overall expenses was mainly down to a lack of travel to meetings - however - as you can see below - travel expenses were still claimed.

Elected councillor expenses include the basic allowance, the special responsibility allowance, dependants' carers' allowances, travel and subsistence and co-optees' allowances.

The allowances published cover the financial year from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

We've compiled a bullet points list of how much every councillor who represents our area was remunerated.

There are 15 Cheshire East councillors across Prestbury, Macc and Bolly.

And Macclesfield Nub News readers can find out how much their councillor claimed below:

Please note: The basic allowance is for each councillor is £12,351.00, with the exception of Councillor Steve Carter of Macclesfield who had a basic allowance of £11,754.00.

Macclesfield Cheshire East Councillor Expenses 2021/22

For impartiality, listed in no particuar order

• Cllr Steve Carter (Macclesfield Hurdsfield, Labour) claimed £11,754.00, comprising of a basic allowance only, with no additional expenses claimed.
• Cllr Brian Puddicombe (Macclesfield South, Labour) claimed £12,368.45, comprising of a basic allowance, £13.95 on travel, and £3.50 on general expenses.
• Cllr James Nicholas (Bollington, Independent) claimed £20,176.05, comprising of a basic allowance, £7,650 of special responsibility as Chair of the Northern Planning Committee, and a further £175.05 on travel.
• Cllr Nick Mannion (Macclesfield West and Ivy, Labour) claimed £26,940.29, comprising of a basic allowance, £14,185.92 as Chair of the Economy and Growth Committee, £149.88 General Expenses and a further £253.49 on travel.
• Cllr Laura Jeuda (Macclesfield South, Labour) claimed £25,289.57, comprising of a basic allowance and a further £12,938.57 in special responsibility.
• Cllr Alift Harewood (Macclesfield West and Ivy, Labour) claimed £12,351.00, comprising of a basic allowance only, with no additional expenses claimed.
• Cllr Paul Findlow (Prestbury, Conservatives) claimed £20,061.84, comprising of a basic allowance, £7,650.00 in special responsibility, and £60.84 in travel expenses.
• Cllr Ashley Farrall (Macclesfield Central, Labour), who is also Cheshire East's Armed Forces Champion, claimed a basic allowance and no additional expenses.
• Cllr James Barber (Broken Cross and Upton, Labour), who is the borough council's Young People Champion, claimed a basic allowance and no additional expenses.
• Cllr Liz Braithwaite (Macclesfield Central, Labour) claimed £12,419.00 comprising of a basic allowance plus £68 in travel expenses.
• Cllr David Edwardes (Macclesfield Tytherington, Independent), who is also Chair of the Licensing Committee, claimed £13,547.31, comprising of £925.40 in special responsibility, £5.90 in general expenses, £229.95 in travel and £35.06 in subsistence
• Cllr Rob Vernon (Broken Cross and Upton, Labour) claimed £12,407.80, comprising of a basic allowance with £56.80 in general expenses.
• Cllr Mick Warren (Macclesfield East, Independent) who is also Chair of the Environment and Communities Committee claimed £26,787.71, comprising a basic allowance, £14,185.92 in special responsibility, and a further £250.82 in travel.
• Cllr Amanda Stott (Bollington, Independent) who also serves as Chair of the Finance Sub Committee and Vice-Chair of the Corporate Policy Committee, claimed £26,814.74, comprising of a basic allowance £39 in general expenses and £238.82 in travel.
• Cllr Lloyd Roberts (Macclefield Tytherington, Real Independent Group) claimed a basic allowance of £12,351.00 only, with no additional expenses claimed.

Cheshire East's leader and Labour councillor for Sandbach Heath & East Sam Corcoran had this to say on the revealed figures.

"These allowances represent a fair reimbursement for the time and personal costs incurred by elected members when carrying out their responsibilities on behalf of the council and the residents of Cheshire East.

"I wish to thank our democratic services team for their hard work in presenting this schedule of allowances in a timely manner.

"We are a large unitary authority, with 82 elected members and the total cost of allowances is proportionate and in line with most other unitary authorities in England."

Latest figures show that £35,693 of the total saving was down to a cutback in mileage.

Councillors claimed £6,271 for travel between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 compared to £41,964 the previous year.

Nearly one third of that total £6,271 travel expense pay out went to deputy council leader Craig Browne, who claimed £1,976 for travel in the 2020/21 financial year.

Topping the list for allowances paid is council leader Sam Corcoran, who received £39,401.

That was made up of the basic £12,351 allowance all 82 councillors receive plus a special responsibility allowance (SRA) of £27,050 for being leader. He did not claim any travel expenses.

Cllr Corcoran also said: "It is great news that the mileage has reduced very significantly and that's because of people working from home or using their cars less.

"I hope that people continue to walk and cycle more and use their cars less for climate change reasons because that reduces the carbon footprint of the council."

He criticised the government's 'bizarre decision' to ban remote council meetings.

"Those worked well," said Cllr Corcoran.

"They reduced the need to travel, they reduced the costs of the council and we were able to make decisions that way so myself, and nearly all the council leaders, are pushing the government to give councils the power to hold remote meetings so we could decide when to have meetings remotely and when to have them in person."

Cllr Browne (Alderley Edge, Ind) received the second highest pay out, totalling £31,455.

This included the basic allowance, the SRA of £17,127 for being deputy leader plus the travel expenses.

Cheshire East was still operating under the cabinet system during the 2020/21 year so the eight other cabinet members were next on the list.

They received at least £26,000 each, which included a £14,185 special responsibility allowance on top of the basic allowance, with the exception of Cllr Laura Jeuda who received £12,938 SRA, so her total was £25,289.

The Macclesfield councillor who claimed for the most public money was Cllr Nick Mannion (Macclesfield West and Ivy, Labour) with £26,940.29.

Cllr Amanda Stott of Bollington came second with £26,814.74.

The total council pay out for all 82 Cheshire East councillors was £1,252,495 of taxpayers money.

You can view a full breakdown of Macc borough councillor expenses, along with all Cheshire East councillors on the Cheshire East Council website.

You can contact your local councillor and find out which represent you via this link.

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