THE Mayor of Trowbridge has criticised his meagre mayoral allowance after learning most neighbouring towns award their leaders more than twice as much.

Trowbridge Town Council budgets £500 to pay for mayoral expenses like travel and attending civic functions. But Cllr Tom James, who has been mayor since May, claimed this is an inadequate amount especially when compared to fellow civic leaders.

While he will not benefit from any raise as his term as mayor is due to finish soon, he has asked the council to consider increasing the amount for next year's mayor to match some of the other towns in the area.

The Wiltshire Times spoke to a number other town councils to find out how much they allow their mayors to claim in expenses.

Top of the list is Chippenham, which has budgeted £3,928 for next year's mayor while Melksham follows closely behind with £3,450. Warminster is awarding £2,500 while Westbury has put aside £1,400 plus extra funds to pay for civic receptions. In Bradford on Avon the mayor has a £620 allowance and an extra £983 is available for civic entertaining.

Corsham, which has a chairman rather than a mayor, did award £700 but has reduced this to £500 after only £334 was claimed last year.

But none came close to the £8,140 paid to the mayor of Leamington Spa Town Council.

Speaking at a meeting of Trowbridge Town Council Cllr James said: "I don't believe (£500) is the right amount for the mayor of Trowbridge when he is expected to do so much work.

"During the last seven months I've been caught out and felt the pauper at the party. Any mayor doing his or her job knows it is time consuming and getting expensive."

As well as travel expenses and tickets to civic functions Cllr James explained he was often expected to fork out to pay for things like raffle tickets at events, which could cost as much as £25 a time.

Cllr Bob Brice agreed the Trowbridge mayor should receive at least as much as neighbouring towns.

"This is the county town. Our mayor shouldn't look as if he can't keep up with the other towns," he said.

John Crook, town clerk of Melksham defended the council's mayoral allowance and said one had to be careful when considering the differences between the towns.

"Our mayor gets a bigger allowance but she has to pay for everything at receptions including food and drink. Other councils have money set aside for civic receptions and fund them separately," he said.

Leamington Spa town clerk Robert Nash said the reason such a large amount was paid out was because the "mayor's role is quite significant".

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