MORE than £200,000 was spent on allowances and expenses for district councillors last year, the Advertiser can reveal.

Mole Valley District Council spent £208,508 on 53 councillors between April 2010 and April 2011.

The highest-claiming member was John Northcott (Independent, Ashtead Common), who received £7,891.

Mr Northcott was given the basic allowance of £4,098, along with £2,178 for his role as chairman of the council, and he claimed £1,588 in mileage expenses.

He told the Advertiser: "Whereas in the past councillors have used hired cars, I used my own car and I therefore accrued a lot of mileage.

"I saved about four times that amount of money by not using hired cars.

"That it the reason why mine is the highest."

He added: "On the more general question of whether allowances are at the right level, I think that is a very difficult question to answer.

"On the one hand they are insufficient for people to regard them as a second job.

"If you needed more income you wouldn't become a councillor, you would go and stack shelves in Tesco.

"But if you regard them as just a recompense for what you can't claim, like phone calls and things like that, then they are probably about right."

The second and third-highest claimants were Liberal Democrat leader Margaret Cooksey, who received £7,598, and Chris Hunt (Con, Ashtead Village) who received £7,457.

Peter Webb, of Surrey Tax Action Group, said: "Given that the amounts are not remuneration, and it is thought that the less-well-off should not be barred from standing as councillors, I would hesitate to say that they should take less."

Local resident Martin Pinner, of Junction Road, Dorking, said: "On the whole, I believe that public office in the UK is an honourable thing and we should be wary of harassing people who want to serve their communities.

"Councillors shouldn't have to subsidise the council out of their pockets, or it would restrict public office to the wealthy.

"On the other hand, expenses shouldn't be seen as a part of pay, as some MPs did prior to the recent scandal.

"I think allowances should not be a blanket sum, but each claim supported by receipts, like any business."

A total of £12,000 has been spent on refreshments for Mole Valley's councillors at meetings over the last three years.

The money was spent on tea, coffee, orange juice, water and biscuits during committee meetings, training sessions and other official business from 2008 to 2011.

Councillor David Howell told the Advertiser the council held 361 evening meetings over that period, which works out at about £33 per meeting spent on refreshments.

"The majority of these evening meetings start at 7pm and a number of the attending members travel directly from work in order to be present," he said.

"The average cost of teas, coffees, orange juice and biscuits is approximately £33 per meeting, but this figure is dependant on the type of scheduled meeting and the number of people present."

Commenting on social network site Twitter Nick McGill, from South Holmwood, wrote: "That's far too much."

And Nicola Taylor added: "We could all do with less biscuits, and why not drink water or make them bring their own? Why should we pay for hospitality?"