MEMBERS of the Conservative borough council were ordered to back a controversial proposal to allow councillors to receive unlimited allowances, a furious councillor has said.

Cllr Keith Baker, leader of the council, denied that he used a three-line whip to instruct members to vote in favour, but another councillor stood up and read from a piece of paper which appeared to show the opposite.

An independent panel recommended that council members should be capped to just one Special Responsibility Allowance or Non-Executive Member Allowance, depending on which is highest, the same as neighbouring authorities in the county.

However, Cllr Baker made an alternative proposal, meaning members can receive as many allowances as the council's executive decides.

Several Tory members backed the decision, sparking outrage amongst the council. Some branded it an "utter disgrace" and one Conservative member stepped down from the party in disgust.

At the council meeting on November 17, Cllr Baker was accused of issuing instructions to Conservative members to vote for the proposed changes, which he immediately denied.

However, Cllr Gary Cowan stood up holding a piece of paper and asserted: "Instructions to Conservative party on the remuneration panel.

"Proposal by Keith Baker, seconded by Julian McGhee Sumner, and they were to vote for."

Cllr Cowan said he was so furious by the Tories' decision he stepped down from the party during the meeting.

In a letter to the News, he added: "The Conservatives were given written instructions to vote for the recommendation. To vote against the instruction made one liable to internal discipline and more as are the rules within the Wokingham Conservative Group."

The proposal was passed by the council, meaning members can receive more than one allowance per person.

Cllr Cowan added: "If he wants to give someone three or four roles now and pay them for it he can. He can double the amount if he wants to.

"It was very heavily condemned.

"We have to save £20m of the next three years and here we are giving ourselves a mechanism by which certain members on the executive can get more and more money at the expense of residents.

Speaking during the meeting, Cllr Lindsay Ferris added: "The proposal to change the recommendation is in my opinion an utter disgrace.

"It smacks of a leadership wanting to keep areas of responsibility into a small area of people.

"It smacks greed on the back of residents of this borough."

Wokingham Borough Council is now the only authority in Berkshire which can give members more than one allowance.

The former allowance for non-executive members was £7,148 and executive members received £10,000 while Cllr Baker received £20,000 as leader.

However, under the new scheme, councillors can be given more than one executive post, meaning they could be paid £10,000 for each post they hold.

Cllr Baker said: "The recommendation has been a difficult one to resolve.

"The devil is in detail, Bracknell Forest allowances for executive members is £16,000, that's 60 per cent more than we allow.

"Windsor and Maidenhead allowances is 20 per cent more than we allow.

"One of the conservative group has said they are going to vote against and I would suggest that's a clear demonstration that a whip is not in place."