Council forks out £65k on chauffeur-driven cars
by political editor Paul
Francis
Chauffeur-driven cars used by senior county councillors and top
officers cost the taxpayer nearly £65,000 last year.
A report by Kent County Council reveals a fleet of four cars
based at County Hall was used predominantly by the chairman and
vice-chairman of the council, along with KCC Conservative leader
Paul Carter and his deputy Cllr Alex King.
A quarter of all councillors used the cars at some point
over the year.
But while the costs have been disclosed formally for the first
time, KCC says it does not know how many miles the cars have
travelled taking councillors and officers about on official
business.
Neither has it released details of individual journeys and what
they were for.
More than half of the bill of just under £65,000 was for paying
chauffeurs for their work.
That worked out at nearly £34,000 based on a rate of £10 per
hour. A further £833 was to meet the London congestion charge while
fuel cost £9,222.
The top user of the cars during 2010-11 was by KCC chairman Cllr
Bill Hayton (above left), who lives in Thanet. He accounted for
1,123 hours of use.
He was followed by KCC deputy leader Cllr Alex King, whose costs
linked to using chauffeur driven cars to and from appointments
amounted to £8,500.
KCC leader Cllr Paul Carter used the cars for close to 650
hours, a cost of £6,480. Several other senior county councillors
also made use of the cars.
Cllr Kevin Lynes, cabinet member for regeneration and
enterprise, clocked up 66 hours at a cost of £665; Cllr Alan Marsh,
former cabinet member for public health, used the cars for 64 hours
at a cost of £645.
Managing director Katherine Kerswell also made use of the cars,
with costs of £435 for the 43 hours clocked up by chauffeurs.
Geoff Wild, the county council solicitor, was the second highest
user among senior officers, with 26 hours use.
Cllr King said: “The cars are a valuable aid. You can actually
work in a car, either on papers or making phone calls.
"This is a big
county and lots of the things we do could not easily be done by
public transport. It makes effective use of our time.
"The reality is that this is a member-led organisation and
members work hard.
"I had four evening appointments last week and if we were
employees of the council, we would probably not be allowed to work
the hours that we do.”
KCC says the decisions about using cars is based “on a
commonsense assessment of the relative importance of each
journey.”
Rules also say that members are required to use their own cars
or public transport where possible.
Asked if he thought KCC should publish details of all journeys
as well as the general costs, Cllr King said: “That would be a lot
of work and I am not sure how constructive that would be.
"We are very careful to try and make the best use we can of the
cars.”
Click here to read our political editor Paul's take on KCC's car
bill.
13/07/11
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