PROPOSALS to increase the basic allowance paid to Wycombe district councillors from £800 a year to £4,000 brought accusations that some members just coasted along and didn't deserve the rise.

The total bill for councillors' pay will shoot up from £120,000 a year to £324,000, if proposals from an independent panel are agreed at the next full council meeting on April 9.

When members of the policy and resources committee discussed the proposals on Monday, it was clear that many were worried about what the voters would think about the increase, which should take place with the introduction of the new council cabinet and leader in May.

But they still recommended the rise saying it was justified in order to attract new people and reward hard workers.

Labour group leader Ted Collins said: "My group is concerned that the total has shot up. It may be that it's too little but the voters will be looking at this, when they are getting about three to five per cent rises."

One way coasting councillors may be brought to account is by annual appraisals, which some councillors thought were a good idea.

Committee chairman Bill Jennings said: "I am not sure that people will be coasting because they will be under pressure to do things in their parishes."

Conservative Peter Cartwright said his voters were always astounded when he told them what he got and said they wouldn't do his work for that money.

Under the proposed system, the old way of paying councillors a basic allowance plus attendance allowance of £15 for going to a meeting, and special responsibility allowances for those in senior positions, will be replaced by the £4,000 basic allowance for everyone, plus extra allowances for the leader and cabinet, and others. The leader will receive £12,000 for his job in addition to the basic, his deputy £8,000 and the six other cabinet members £6,000.

The panel that came up with the recommendations followed the now increasingly familiar method of calculating the rates of pay based on the median white collar annual wage of £26,700 and then deducting a chunk for unpaid community service.