PARISH councillors have wholeheartedly rejected a new scheme that would have seen them entitled to claim allowances for carrying out their duties.

The Government regulations, which came into force on May 1, were outlined by Mike Dennis, Teesdale District Council monitoring officer, at the parish forum on Monday.

He told how parish councillors were entitled to claim a basic allowance, plus travelling and subsistence allowances where applicable. But he stressed that there was no requirement on parish councils to introduce the scheme and was aware that it might not receive a great deal of support with small councils.

He gave some figures based on a sliding scale, which would later be discussed by an independent remuneration authority. Among suggestions were, that in parishes with a 3,000-5,000 population, councillors might receive 5pc of district council rates, which would amount to about £135 a year, while those with less that 1,000 population could look forward to 1pc, which equated to £27.

Coun Richard Bell pointed out that most parishes in the dale were in the hundreds, so it was small money.

Coun Brian Biddiscombe was unimpressed: "I am presuming that if we opt in, it will fall on the parish precept," he said. Mr Dennis replied that that would be the case.

"I don't think we'll bother," said Coun John Armstrong, which seemed to be the opinion of most parish councillors at the forum.