Details of the Chief Exceutive's (Nick Carter) expenses for the last 3 years are available on http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ceo_expenses_14#incoming-189285 for download.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com facilitates Freedom of Information Act requests and publishes the results which make very interesting reading.

Surprisingly, Nick Carter’s expenses show that he lives 35 miles from Newbury. He claimed a round trip of home to Newbury to home on 29/01/2011 of 70 miles.

Nick Carter obviously does not have to live with the decisions made by West Berkshire Council which affect us all.  No wonder he seems to me to be so distant from it all!

Living so far away there is also the question of what happens in any civil emergency or problem affecting West Berkshire.  He will not be able to get to Newbury promptly to deal with this and if we get heavy snow like the last couple of years he will be going nowhere.

I also wonder why he gets paid mileage allowance for home to office in addition to his huge salary. Normal businesses do not pay this.

Pretty shocking that he is paid his travel costs.

Quoted from 26

Pretty shocking that he is paid his travel costs.

What you want him to run West Berkshire into the ground with all the cuts needed and not gain from it?  

You will want the Financial Sector and Bankers to pay for the errors of their ways next I suppose?  

How dare you besmirch the good name of our £159,000 a year Supreme Leader.

Cartergrad wasn't built in a day, and he's worked tirelessly to get replace the small family businesses with chainstores. He's given us green meanies instead of naff car parks, an Italian piazza in place of a town square, long-distance CCTV and 4000 more houses.

It's this sort of ungrateful response which rightly gets our leaders so upset. Already, the Supreme Leader's Presidential Guard (formerly 51st Green Meanie Battalion) is mustering outside the Kremlin to quell this latest outburst.

Long Live the Supreme Leader. Death to the Quislings!

Now then Muddler, you're just trying to upset User. I am thinking of starting a User preservation campaign, even though he claims I'm Newbury's Biggest User Wind-Up Merchant.  At least he posts here and he's the closest we have to an official WBC spokesperson on this or any other forum. Now, where did I put that pile of e-petition forms?

Two things leap out here, one is that it is an interesting insight into the public mindedness of the guy that in a time of enforced savings, from the people of Newbury to those who serve them, he still charges a rather pathetic 3 miles for a meeting at the Racecourse.
Please sir, please sir, look sir, I drove 3 miles today sir, please sir, please sir, can I have my 36p sir? Gosh sir, thanks sir, I'll cut along to see Matron and then head for the tuck shop sir. I got an extra 36p to spend, Yarooh!

Thought W.B.C were promoting 'green' and all that good stuff. Couldn't he walk, bike, go by train?

The second thing that leaps out is his visits to the College, one booked at 3 miles, and one booked at 4 miles. only a minor point, but an increase of over 25% nonetheless. Did he get lost? I know he's not from round these parts, but he could buy a map couldn't he?


Threep.

Quoted from Threepwood

. Did he get lost? I know he's not from round these parts, but he could buy a map couldn't he?


Threep.

Only if he could claim it on expenses. I'm with you about the penny pinching claim for a 3 mile trip. Who owns the car he drives by the way, is it a company car.

Quoted from brian

Only if he could claim it on expenses. I'm with you about the penny pinching claim for a 3 mile trip. Who owns the car he drives by the way, is it a company car.

I think it is. The rate for mileage on your own car is around 40p I think. But given that central government are urging senior execs take a 10% pay cut, he really does seem to be at the trough.

12p and 14p a mile is a low settlement; I'd say companies would typically grant around 40p a mile.  For people to complain about someone being paid for what they are entitled, seems petty.  His salary seems high on its own, but it is average for a council CEO, and his council usually does well on audits.

Some clarification to my original post:

Nick Carter has a leased car provided by West Berks Council and the rate of 12/14p per mile is to cover fuel costs.

Looking at his overall mileage I think that he must do about 20,000 miles per year taking into account the 70 mile round trip to the office. Leased cars become very expensive once you go over 10,000 miles per year owing to the huge depreciation that this causes and this affects all makes of car.

It seems to me that council taxpayers are paying for the cost of Nick Carter living 35 miles away from Newbury if the council pays for the full leasing on his car.  The fuel claimed is a very tiny proportion of this cost.

If you draw a circle of 35 miles radius around Newbury you will not find a location that is anywhere near the West Berkshire area.  Possible places 35 miles from Newbury are Guildford, Southampton, Chippenham and Oxford.

My point is that for what Nick Carter is paid he should be living within the West Berkshire Area.  I notice that plenty of people have christened Newbury 'cartergrad' but at the end of the day at 5:00pm Nick Carter is off home to somewhere miles away where the decisions of West Berkshire Council do not have any bearing on him or his family.  He can just shut the door on us.

Quoted from Greenham Common

12p and 14p a mile is a low settlement; I'd say companies would typically grant around 40p a mile.  For people to complain about someone being paid for what they are entitled, seems petty.  His salary seems high on its own, but it is average for a council CEO, and his council usually does well on audits.

This is a more common rate for those that get a company car or car allowance.

Quoted from Greenham Common

For people to complain about someone being paid for what they are entitled, seems petty.

That is very true,  I have no quibble per se with mileage allowances.  However, and maybe it's just me, but if I was on top of 160 grand a year, I'd be embarrassed to be seen claiming for a journey of 1.5 miles there and 1.5 miles back. Of course, the fact that the true distance is only a mile is a topic for another debate or, if he's been that creative with all his distances, then the Fraud Squad.


Threep.

I don't have a problem with any of this.

What I'd be more interested to see is an analysis of the case for and against merging WBC with other district councils, as discussed here before and as advocated by Eric Pickles.  I would imagine that could produce significant savings.

Also, as I've also suggested here, why not reduce the number of councillors?  The PM is setting an example on this, reducing the number of MPs. Inspired by his leader, I'm sure that Mr Jones will at least have thought about the options.  What conclusions did he come to?  I think we should be told.

For clarification, the Supreme Leader lives in Wiltshire and his assistant Councillor Graham Jones lives in Oxfordshire.

We could save £500k a year by getting rid of councillors. Just a Supreme Leader, Chief Architect and Commissar-general for the Green Meanies would suffice.

Hmm, maybe a bit radical all in one go, Muddler.  Do you see the Green Meanies being armed?

Meanwhile, the citizens of West Suffolk have been - shock horror! - allowed to express their own views on mergers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-13518691

The result is a merger of the staffing structures of two district councils

http://www.babergh.gov.uk/babergh/home

And there will be one chief exec, instead of two.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-12804234

They're saving quite a lot as a result, as you'll see.  As I say I'd be interested to know whether this has been looked at in any detail locally and, if so, what conclusions were reached. Personally I'd have no problem with Mr C being the CE of a merged district, but then I'm generally in favour of Parkway (although not, of course, of the Pavilion).

This isn't entirely off-topic - a single CE of two merged districts would only need one car.  

And completely back on topic, shouldn't WBC have some company bicycles its staff could use for short trips around town? Not only would that reduce the council's carbon footprint and, possibly, costs: it also provides the cyclist with an up-close-and-personal look at town which you don't get from inside your Audi.