A Suffolk resident has written to the Prime Minister after a petition calling for county chief Andrea Hill to take a pay cut was withdrawn from council’s website after just one day.
Story here.
Peter Freeman put up a petition entitled: “I wish to request a significant reduction in Andrea Hill’s salary,” on January 24 it was taken down the following day.
One signatory was so angered by the response she has sent letters to prime minister David Cameron and secretary of state for local government Eric Pickles
Eric Whitfield, Suffolk County Council’s Monitoring Officer, said: “The council’s provision for receiving and dealing with e-petitions is included in its constitution and reflects the legislation and the national guidance for local authorities set out in the government’s model scheme.
“Full council is not able to vote on the alteration of individual terms and conditions.
“It was therefore my view, as the council’s monitoring officer, that this petition was inappropriate as it was calling for the council to take action which it is not lawfully able to take.”
Deputy leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group David Wood said the salary of the chief remained a potent issue.
He said: “I was talking to people about park and ride earlier to today, and they all – quite unprompted – brought up the issue of the chief’s salary. It is not going to go away.”
His view was backed up by Conservative Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP Dr Dan Poulter who brought up the issue in the House of Commons in the autumn.
He said: “This is not an issue that can be brushed under the carpet.
Unfortunately Jeremy Pembroke isn’t going to face an election for a while so it will be other Conservative councillors at local and borough level who would suffer due to some of these decisions some of which seem to be completely outrageous. Even more unfortunate is the fact that Andrea Hill who earns more than the prime minister, will never have to face an election. This means she can take her salary home to Cambridgeshire and be as smug as she likes. I think she knows that the majority of people in Suffolk believe she should take a pay cut but just in case she doesn’t, her EMail address is andrea.hill@suffolk.gov.uk
