YORK councillors have approved a big wage hike for themselves.

The move came under fire from a former Tory member of City of York Council, who said local people would "simply not stand for it".

But senior councillors agreed to phase the pay rise in so the authority could stick to its 2000-01 budget.

This means its leader Coun Rod Hills will get a total allowance of £18,375 this year, rising to the full amount of about £38,000 in 2003-04.

Deputy leader Coun Dave Merrett will get £14,088, eventually reaching over £28,000, and opposition Liberal Democrat leader Coun Steve Galloway will receive £14,049, rising to about £40 less than the deputy leader's full wage by 2003-04.

The basic councillors' allowance will not be phased in, but will be £3,362 in 2000-01 rather than the full £5,043 because the new system was introduced part-way through the financial year.

An independent panel recommended the full pay figures, but an urgency sub-committee heard last night (Wed) that the lower ones had been agreed by all the authority's political group leaders.

Coun Galloway called them a "considerable scaling down", and Coun Hills said: "The unanimous view was at this time we couldn't afford, and it would be wrong, to accept the full recommendations from the independent panel."

For the Conservatives, Coun Gerald Dean thanked the Evening Press for bringing the issue to the attention of local people.

Former Conservative councillor Ken Beavan, who stressed he was speaking as "an ordinary citizen", urged the committee to reject the proposals "in the public interest".

He said the members' allowance budget for 1999-2000 was £560,000, which would rise to £800,000 by 2003-04, adding "One has to question how ordinary residents will benefit in return."

Mr Beavan believed his comments represented the views of a significant section of the community. "If the council accepts the recommendation as proposed the people of York will simply not stand for it," he said.

*The process has begun of finding replacements for council chief executive David Clark and education director Mike Peters, who are both due to leave on November 1.

Mr Clark advised the committee to "test the marketplace" first rather than advertising the posts this month (Aug).

He added it was "certainly easier" to find a new chief executive at the moment, as his colleagues had told him education directors were very difficult to recruit, but estimated both posts could be filled by the end of the year.