A HUGE pay increase for all Craven councillors has been recommended in order to attract younger people to take up the role.

An independent panel charged with reviewing councillors' pay proposed raising the basic allowance of £206 a year to £4,000 but abolishing the attendance allowance, paid depending on how long meetings last.

For the average councillor, it would mean a five-fold increase in their pay.

The panel, consisting of John Goodfellow, chief executive of Skipton Building Society, Ian Lockwood, editor of the Craven Herald, and John Edwards, former chief executive of Barnsley Metropolitan Council, was set up as part of the Government's drive to modernise and revitalise local democracy and reverse the growing public apathy about the way local services are run and financed.

The panel was concerned that the amount of pay councillors received bore no relation to the time and effort put in by members in not only attending meetings but also in problem solving in their local wards.

It was felt that the careers of younger people in particular could suffer if they took on the role of a councillor and more realistic payments would help to encourage Craven Council to lower its age profile.

The panel based its findings on average earnings, the typical amount of time a councillor spent on council business (both in the chamber and in their wards) minus an element of voluntary public service which the job entails.

It recommended scrapping all payments, except mileage allowance, and instead paying a flat £4,000 which would cover all expenses, except travelling.

The panel also believed that special responsibility allowances of an additional £2,000 should be paid to chairmen of committees, who have a considerable extra workload, and £6,000 to the leader of the council, who has to be involved in every aspect of the council's functions.

The recommendations would cost an extra £120,000 a year and were largely accepted by the council's policy and resources committee this week.

Chairman of the council Peter Walbank said finding anyone to even stand for the council was becoming increasingly difficult and people were being "dragged in from the streets and fields".

Other councillors agreed that young people, juggling a career and a family, simply could not afford to put themselves up for election and good quality people were being lost.

The increases will be phased in over a two year period, with the basic allowance rising to £3,000 in April and £4,000 the following year and fixed for four years.

The panel has also recommended that the council publish attendance figures at meetings as well as payments so the electorate could judge if they had had value from individual councillors.

It also advised that the council draw up procedures to "claw back" sums in situations where councillors did not perform their duties, including regular attendance at meetings.

Councillors can, if they wish, renounce their entitlement to allowances.

Panel member Ian Lockwood said: "We don't think there will be a rush of people desperate to become councillors but it is a position of responsibility and if loss of earnings is part of the reason why fewer people are coming forward, then this will remove some of that barrier."

The recommendation will now be debated by the full council.