DARWEN Mayor Paul Browne has called on every Blackburn with Darwen borough councillor to give up their allowances in light of tough budget cuts.

In the most recent six-month period, up to November 2010, the total allowances paid by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to councillors came to £103,869.

The basic allowance was £5,992 per year, with extra money for special responsibilities.

On Thursday, the council agreed to cutting £24million from the budget because of smaller Government grants, including reducing members allowances by ten per cent.

Lib Dem Coun Browne said: “This is my own personal viewpoint, not the party line, but I think all councillors should show our commitment and not take allowances for at least 12 months, to ease the money situation.

“When I first became a councillor in 1973 there were no allowances at all.

"We did it to work for the community, not to take a wage.”

Coun Browne moved the motion at a full council meeting, but only a handful of other councillors voted in favour of it.

He said: “The argument is that if you don’t pay money, then you won’t get the right people coming forward to be a councillor. But that’s rubbish.

“If a person wants to serve their community, then they will find a way.

“What annoys me is that people get paid thousands as a basic allowance and they’re not even on a committee and some don’t turn up to every meeting.

"That’s getting money for nothing and it gets my back up.”

In 2009/10 Coun Browne claimed a total of £11,507 in allowances and £372 in out-of-pocked expenses.

He said the 'majority' of his cash was donated to local and national charities, including the Royal British Legion, Barnardos, Help the Aged and the RNLI.

Two years ago Coun Browne called for all Darwen councillors to give up their allowances to pay for Darwen Tower to be lit up but this was not taken up.