Independent candidate in Tolworth pledges to slash councillors' allowances and senior staff pay (From Surrey Comet)

Independent candidate in Tolworth pledges to slash councillors' allowances and senior staff pay

10:23am Tuesday 4th May 2010 in News By David Lindsell

An independent candidate is running for a Kingston Council seat on a platform of slashing councillors’ allowances and bringing down senior staff pay.

Vic Bellamy, 54, is standing in Hook Rise and Tolworth against Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Christian Peoples Alliance.

The former guardsman and security consultant rails against council “fat cats”, such as chief executive Bruce McDonald, on up to £174,000 a year and said he wanted councillors’ allowances reduced by up to 35 per cent.

The money saved would pay for an extra 30 to 35 carers for frail and elderly people, he claimed.

He said: “The reason I’m standing is I’m like a lot of people – I come in from work and I’m fed up of screaming and shouting at the news.

“Politicians take total advantage of the electorate.

I have been to some of the council meetings and their arrogance is appalling.

“They don’t listen to people and some of the council meetings are like a chimp’s tea party.”

And he criticised the millions of pounds invested in the Rose Theatre as a waste of money.

He said: “I don’t see anybody from the Cambridge Road estate choosing to go and watch King Lear.”

He plans to push a leaflet through every door in Hook Rise and Tolworth before election day, aiming to become Kingston’s first elected independent councillor