A Green party councillor has called for a review into Bradford Council members’ travel allowances.

Shipley Councillor Kevin Warnes said the local authority should change its travel policies after he discovered that £15,843 had been spent on travel allowances since the May 2010 elections.

The figures include £13,519 on car mileage, £1,627 on train tickets, £556 on taxis and buses and £141 on parking.

The figures do not include train fares paid directly by the Council in advance for those on Council business.

Councillor Warnes said: “What we need to have is an immediate review of how much is being spent and the circumstances in which we are subsidising car travel.

“We will probably find there are a lot of journeys that are perfectly justifiable, that we have to make to represent our constituents properly, particularly if you are on the executive, and that is completely understandable.

“But we need to make sure as well that this money isn’t just being dished out to people who are simply driving into City Hall and driving home again, in which case they should be treated like everyone else who drives their way into work.”

Councillor Warnes described the allowances as “environmentally unsustainable” and said the Council, in the long-term, needed to adapt its travel policies to encourage “non-car travel”.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said travel allowances would be looked at as part of the Council’s bid to make savings.

He said: “It is an interesting question as to where councillors’ place of work is – is my place of work Little Horton or City Hall? As leader of the Council I would consider my place of work City Hall, but as a local councillor I would consider my place of work Little Horton.

“The current system has existed for many years and obviously in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, everything needs to be looked at.”

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, the Council’s Conservative group leader, said: “It is apparent that a member in a rural ward with a heavy portfolio or scrutiny responsibilities will be required to make more frequent and longer journeys to City Hall than, say, back-bench members who are not required to visit City Hall as regularly and represent more locally centred wards.

“As such, I think it is disingenuous that an elected member representing a ward serviced by regular and easily accessible public transport, close to the city centre, has decided to make these observations.”

Biggest claimants explain spending

Councillor Adrian Naylor (Con, Craven, £2,115.95), who held the regeneration portfolio before the Tory party lost control of Bradford Council, said he had to make a number of journeys to meetings by train at the last minute, and so these figures have come up as expenses.

He said: “A significant proportion of mine is down to where I have had a number of journeys where I travelled at the last minute, or the Council has not been able to get my ticket and from that point of view, that would not be reflected in other people’s claims.

“Given my role that I was in the executive, I’m in the shadow executive now and I chair a scrutiny committee, I need to be in City Hall more than most. I am one of the furthest away from City Hall, so I naturally end up claiming more per journey that anyone else.”

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth (Con, Ilkley, £1,881.90), leader of the Council’s Conservative group, said her costs were incurred through travelling from her ward to City Hall on a regular basis due to her position as party leader.

She said: “Clearly each elected member’s travel subsistence claims will vary dependant on the geographical size of the ward they represent and its distance from City Hall. Furthermore, members who have a portfolio, shadow portfolio or scrutiny committee responsibilities, will be required to make trips to City Hall more frequently.”

Councillor Glen Miller (Con, Worth Valley, £1,586.93) said: “The largest claimants will be from the outlying areas. My mileage claim is 24 miles – I can’t afford to drive my car in and out and obviously, being deputy leader of the group, I’m in there nearly every day and that’s where it’s from.”

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood (Lab, Little Horton, £1,255.60) said the majority of his claims for parking and taxis were through his train journeys to London and getting around the capital to attend Local Government Association meetings. He said his mileage claims came from travelling to and from City Hall as well as attending meetings across West Yorkshire.

Councillor Martin Smith (Con, Ilkley, £805.80) said: “Ilkley is probably the furthest distance in the authority into the city centre, especially when you have been a portfolio holder and need to be in town three of four times a week.

Not always can you go on the train,sometimes I go into Wakefield for the police authority, sometimes I go further into Bradford and different venues. So it’s not always convenient to do anything other than the car.”