Regalia, who pays?





"During a recent committee meeting dealing with the provision of regalia it became clear that some proposals such as dis-assembling the current chains of office and creating new chains from the various pieces were simply not viable. With that in mind I proposed that the cost of any new regalia should be met by reducing the amount of Special Responsibility Allowance payable to Councillors over the next few years. The rationale is simple, such items have rarely been purchased from the public purse, instead they have been presented by groups, businesses and others as gifts when such donations were common place. Society is different and it is possible that such generosity does not easily present itself. The Chief Executive has suggested that she believes new regalia will be presented to the Council and on that basis I have withdrawn my proposal with the intention that should such donations not be forthcoming I will once again make the same proposal. If needed we should have the confidence as Councillors to say will shall put our hands in our own pockets rather than taking the view that the ratepayer is the first port of call when seeking funds rather than the last port of call when all else has failed."

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