HAMBLETON District Council could halve the number of its elected members to save about £200,000.

The authority has announced it is looking into the move, which would need the permission of the Boundary Commission.

The council cabinet gave the idea the thumbs up last week, but it will also have to be approved by the full council when it meets on February 21.

It can then put its ideas to the Boundary Commission, which can accept or reject the plan, or make its own suggestions for change.

A consultation would be held as part of the process, which would allow both councillors and residents to air their views.

Council leader Coun Neville Huxtable said: “Along with all local authorities in the country, we are looking to see whether we can deliver our services for less money.

“We expect the staff of the council to run a very slim structure – there is no reason why members should not be expected to do the same. We are not the only authority in the country to be thinking of this.

“At the moment, we have 44 members serving 89,000 people and the suggestion is that maybe we can save money by reducing those numbers by 50 per cent.

When those figures were set up some time ago, things were very different.

“I certainly support it and I’m very pleased to say that the majority of members I have spoken to are also supporting this move. They believe we should be looking at ourselves.

“On average, an elected member today looks after 1,500 people.

That’s not a huge number of people. They could take on the extra work.

“We have to make a submission to the Boundaries Commission and can also send them our idea of how we can do it.

“They will either say no or will come up here and say this is how we think you should be doing it.

“The important thing is that it costs somewhere in the region of £400,000 per year to run 44 councillors.

“That doesn’t mean to say we earn all that money because there are support costs as well – secretaries and officers.

“But with fewer members we could cut that down to £200,000 and that is a considerable saving and one that our ratepayers would want us to be doing.”