A GROUP of residents looks set to finally win a long-running battle to keep councillors' pay down.

A panel which advises members of Chiltern District Council is in line to have nearly all its pay recommendations for this year backed - after seeing them ignored last year.

Residents and councillors still crossed swords over this year's plan, including a bid by councillors to stop using public transport for "impractical" journeys.

But eventually the panel won out and the ruling group has supported a basic allowance of £4,250, an increase of 3.79 per cent.

The Liberal Democrats - the biggest opposition group on the council - questioned the increase as it is almost double that handed this year to nurses and police officers.

Yet the Conservatives said this year's pay deal had been kept to a "minimum" and councillors should not be "out of pocket".

Already the authority tops a list of similar UK councils for members' pay - and is the only one to shell out a maximum £360 allowance for using the internet.

Two years ago councillors voted for a £500 increase to net each member a basic allowance of £4,000.

By the next year the panel was urging them to freeze the pay - but members voted for an extra £100 and an optional IT allowance' of up to £360.

The new deal includes IT allowance.

Councillors with special responsibilities such as chairmanship get extra cash.

Here council chairman Councillor Philip Priestley is the biggest winner - he will see this extra payment go up from £4,375 to £5,568.

Leader Councillor John Warder, whose top role ensures a final wage of £17,255, said: "We are keeping the increase to a minimum. This is a very small amount of money in total.

"Basically it is what we feel we are worth"

Public sector workers got between 1.4 and two per cent increases this year. Nurses got 1.9 per cent.

Lib Dem leader Peter Jones said: "I find it slightly difficult to work out how we can pay ourselves more than those in the public sector. The two should be linked."

But Cllr Warder said the comparison was "not reasonable".

"We don't get anything like the money the nurses are getting."

Public spending watchdog the Audit Commission compared Chiltern to seven similar councils, including South Bucks District Council.

This showed it had the highest basic allowance.

Yet Cllr Warder pointed out the commission had rated it as providing excellent' value for money - an accolade shared by only four councils nationwide.

A final decision on the allowances will be made at the next meeting of the full council, which has 30 Conservatives, nine Lib Dems and one independent.