Monmouthshire County Council's Leader, Peter Fox, said this week that he is satisfied that the council has decided that an independent organisation will decide how much councillors are paid.

At a meeting last month, councillors decided to bring the amount of money councillors are paid in allowances in line with other authorities in Wales.  The Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales recommended that councillors with certain responsibilities should be paid a rate that is set across Wales and members agreed to let an independent body decide how much they are paid as they were not comfortable deciding this themselves.

Peter Fox said: "It's not right for us to determine our own rate of allowances and expenses.

"The majority of members of all political persuasions consider this to be the fairest way to be paid.

"We are being paid from public funds and it was inappropriate that members set the level of allowances for themselves.  We want our residents to be confident that we are not being paid more or less than other Welsh councillors with the same duties.

"Many critics seem to believe that councillors doing a full time job should do so for very little reward.

"The council should be seen as a £150 million business employing 4,000 people.  It's appropriate that the people who oversee this organisation are paid fairly."

Councillor Brian Hood, cabinet member for social services said:

"The job of the councillor has changed out of all recognition in recent years since we changed to a cabinet and executive system.

"Cabinet members have huge responsibilities and burdens – we need to put in the hours if we want to keep on top of the job.

"You only have to look at what happened in Haringey over the tragedy of 'Baby P', where the leader and the cabinet member for social services resigned over the council's failure, to realise the level of responsibility that falls to executive members in the UK."

Last week, The Beacon reported large increases in various allowances to senior members of Monmouthshire County Council.