A CONSERVATIVE-led bid to reinstate £10,000 councillor budgets is hoping to attract ‘cross party support’ ahead of Cheshire West’s full council.

That’s according to Cllr Lynn Riley, shadow cabinet member for adult social care and public health, who is one of the architects behind the scheme along with Cllr Jill Houlbrook.

The budgets, which councillors can use to distribute up to £500 at a time for worthy projects, were lowered to £5,000 in 2017.

Cllr Riley, who represents Frodsham, told the LDRS: “We have had a council for the last five years which has been pulling back from the centre.

“Funding has been pulled back and sending the wrong message to our communities so this motion is to try reset our clock as we look at renewing and rebuilding.

“It’s not about power and control, it’s about enabling. I can do more with £1,000 then the local authority can do with £100,000. I can give you example after example of big policy but no common sense.”

Last year, both Cllr Riley and Cllr Houlbrook maxed out their £5,000 budgets on a variety of schemes.

In the motion, the Tory pair argue that ‘communities across the borough want to be responsible for their own decisions’ and that the coronavirus pandemic ‘has shown there is a wealth of skills across all communities to enable the delivery of even more community projects’.

Should the change be approved, council officers will have to account for the extra funding in the authority’s 2021/22 overall budget.

CWAC’s full council will meet online at 6.10pm on Thursday, October 21.