A £500 rise would take each Broadland councillor's basic allowance to £6,680 and cost £24,492 a year. The same meeting debates a no-confidence motion.
Broadland’s 47 councillors will decide on Thursday whether to give themselves a £500 a year rise in their basic allowance.
An independent panel has recommended it. The panel says Broadland pays the lowest basic allowance of any Norfolk district, level with South Norfolk. If councillors agree, the rise would start on 1 November.
The same meeting will debate a Conservative motion of no confidence in the council’s portfolio holder for economic development.
Both items are on the agenda for full council at 7pm on Thursday 22 October at the Horizon Centre, Peachman Way (agenda and papers).
The quick answer
- Basic allowance now: £6,180 a year, once this year’s 3.3% pay award is paid in November.
- Proposed: £6,680, a rise of “just over 8%” on top of the pay award.
- Extra cost: £24,492 a year, or £10,205 this year if it starts on 1 November.
- Decision: full council, Thursday 22 October, 7pm. Councillors can accept all, some or none of it.
What the panel recommends
The Independent Remuneration Panel is three people from outside the council. Its report is published with the agenda. Councillors must “have regard” to it but do not have to follow it.
Its main recommendations are:
- add £500 a year to the basic allowance paid to every councillor
- set the council leader’s allowance at 2.6 times the basic allowance, which is £17,369, up from £16,370
- raise every other special responsibility allowance by about 6% as a result, because they are all worked out as a share of the leader’s
- scrap the £4,425 allowance paid to the chair of a policy development panel
- pay the leaders of smaller opposition groups less than the main opposition leader
- let councillors claim mileage for up to 12 journeys to and from their ward a month
- repay carers’ costs at actual cost, capped at £12.71 an hour, with a receipt
The figures come from the panel’s report and the council’s cost table in Appendix B (IRP report, cost of the scheme).
What it would cost
The council’s own report sets out the total bill:
| Now, with the pay award | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
| Basic allowances, 47 councillors | £290,481 | £313,981 |
| Special responsibility allowances | £95,841 | £96,833 |
| Total | £386,321 | £410,814 |
That is £24,492 a year more. The report says this year’s share would come from underspends elsewhere in the 2026/27 budget. From next year it becomes a running cost, before any further pay award.
The 3.3% pay award is separate. It goes into November’s payroll anyway, backdated to April, whatever councillors decide on Thursday.
What councillors told the panel
The panel asked every political group for its views. The report records a split.
Some councillors said no change was needed. They said any rise above inflation, or above what staff received, “would not be palatable”. Others pointed out that Broadland’s allowances were among the lowest in Norfolk.
Requests the panel turned down include:
- an allowance for shadow cabinet members
- an IT allowance, because councillors are given the equipment they need
- an opposition leader’s allowance equal to a cabinet member’s
The no-confidence motion
The motion is item 15a. It is proposed by Councillor Martin Murrell, who represents Wroxham, and seconded by Councillor Jo Copplestone of Coltishall North, for the Conservative group.
It does not name the portfolio holder. The council’s cabinet page lists Councillor Martin Booth, Labour member for Sprowston East, as portfolio holder for economic development (Broadland Cabinet).
The motion cites concern about “ongoing performance, strategic direction, and delivery” of the portfolio. It lists three areas:
- policy development
- the Business Builder scheme
- governance and oversight of Broadland Country Park
It asks the council to declare no confidence and to ask the leader, Councillor Susan Holland, to move the portfolio to someone else. The motion asks the leader to act; it does not itself remove anyone.
Economic development has come up at scrutiny before. The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 September, also in Thursday’s papers, record members’ concerns about economic development performance. Officers told the committee that the Broadland Country Park project had faced “some cost pressures”. They said a slight delay beyond the original September deadline would not put its grant funding at risk.
What it means for you
Your council tax pays these allowances, so this is one of the few council decisions about councillors’ own money. The papers set out four options: accept the panel in full, accept part of it, adopt something else, or keep the current scheme.
You can watch or speak. Public speaking is item 7 on the agenda; the council’s committee pages say how to register.
The panel also suggests guidance for parish and town councils. It suggests no allowance in parishes with fewer than 1,000 electors, other than for the chair. Parish councils do not have to follow it.
We will report the outcome of both votes.
Sources
- Broadland Council, 22 October 2026: agenda and reports pack, for the allowances report (item 8), the Independent Remuneration Panel’s report, Appendix B costs, the no-confidence motion (item 15a) and the Overview and Scrutiny minutes of 8 September.
- Broadland Cabinet membership and councillor pages, read 20 October 2026, for portfolio holders.
Have your say