EFFORTS to ‘muddy the water’ have come to the fore after councillors clashed over allowances just over a week before a by-election.

The Wokingham Conservatives criticised the Liberal Democrats and independent councillor, Gary Cowan, after they accepted a one per cent rise in allowances, giving them an extra £66 a year.

The Conservatives say that the Liberal Democrats and Cllr Gary Cowan voted against the proposal back in November.

Conservative council leader, Keith Baker said: “The scale of hypocrisy here is breathtaking. The Liberal Democrats and the independent councillor made a show of attacking a small rise in members’ allowances, yet all of them have taken it.”

Cllr Keith Baker also accused his opposition of misleading the public about a rise in special responsibility allowances, claiming a £6000 remuneration from Optalis is not coming from the council budget.

He added: “The funding comes from the company, not from the council. The Lib Dems are just trying to muddy the waters.”

Liberal Democrat, Cllr Lindsay Ferris, does not believe his party have been ‘greedy’ and voted against the motion to allow councillors to take on more than one special responsibility allowance (SRA) and called out his opposition for criticising them.

“Attacking the Lib Dems over the £66 that was recommended by the panel just shows how desperate the Conservatives are.”

With the Emmbrook by-election coming up, Cllr Ferris believes it’s an attempt from the Conservatives and their leader to put themselves ahead.

He said: “He’s getting desperate. He’s had some feedback on the doorstep. He’s floundering around trying to smear us. I totally object to this. It’s completely unacceptable.”

Councillor Gary Cowan, who resigned from the Conservative party when the SRA motion was put through, believes the reason behind giving councillors the ability to have more than one allowance is to consolidate power.

He said: “It gives him autocratic control over the councillors. It’s not very good for democracy.”