A ROW has flared in Selby over councillors’ expenses.

Independent councillor John McCartney has demanded a debate among the full council about the travel expenses of several members.

The Enhanced Chairs Group (ECG), is an advisory group for Selby District Council which holds no decision-making power, but creates plans which the council can choose to adopt.

The council’s finance department confirmed four of the members of the group had claimed travel expenses to attend the meetings and related away days, running to a total of £1,174.32 between April 2009 and September 2010.

Coun McCartney asked council leader Mark Crane about the group and the related expense claims at a meeting of the council last week.

Coun McCartney said: “Councillors can only claim mileage expenses for approved duty, meetings of the council and certain outside bodies, not for political group meetings, so these councillors should not have been charging the taxpayer for their travel costs.

“Given that this group is not part of Selby District Council’s constitution and is not ‘approved duty’ could the leader of the council explain why four councillors are claiming mileage expenses specifically for attendance at these meetings?”

But council leader Mark Crane said the claims were genuine: “It is covered by approved duty and I believe that any claim has been verified by council officers.

“When the members of the group have been in and claimed expenses for the meeting, they haven’t just been to ECG meetings, but completed other council work to tie in as much as possible.

“It’s a relatively small sum of money but the overall thing is it’s an important meeting between leading councillors and officers to discuss matters of the council.”

A spokesman for Selby District Council said the ECG could be defined as a meeting of “the Chairs of the Council’s Boards and Committees and senior officers of the authority. “It is not a decision-making body. ECG is there to facilitate communication between leading councillors and senior officers, ultimately supporting the Boards and Committees to act more efficiently and effectively.”