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Councillors in one of the poshest parts of the country - which includes David Cameron's home village - are to give themselves a pay rise of nearly 17%, sparking fury among workers and unions.

Tory-controlled West Berkshire council will vote tomorrow on proposals to increase the amount it pays councillors in allowances by 16.5%.

It comes just days after Tory council chiefs begged George Osborne not to impose more brutal cuts on local authorities, which would severely hit public services.

West Berkshire has some of the most expensive homes in the UK outside of London, and well-heeled locals include Carole and Michael Middleton, Kate's parents, who live in a £7m mansion at Bucklebury, near Newbury.

Prime Minister David Cameron was brought up in the village of Peasemore, and Richard Benyon, rated as the wealthiest MP in the Commons with a £110m fortune from a 20,000-acre hunting, shooting and fishing estate, has just been re-elected as the Conservative member for Newbury.

The proposals were made by an independent panel, but unions say the council should vote against the recommendation.

It has enraged public sector trade union UNISON, who say council staff and elderly, sick and vulnerable local residents are reeling from the council announcing it needs to make £5.9m cuts in front-line services in 2015/16.

Amount lost on average per household in Coalition cuts

UNISON said today "There is significant concern about the message that the accepting by councillors of a 16.5 per cent increase in their basic allowance will give to hard-working council staff who have suffered real-terms cuts in their pay and significant depletions in their numbers since 2010.

"UNISON has asked all councillors to consider the propriety of accepting the recommendations of the independent remuneration panel at this time and to reflect on the light in which any decision to do so might be viewed by their electorate."

The panel says there should be an increase from £6,285 to £7,324 in the Basic Allowance for each of the 52 councillors, a total annual increase of £54,028.

But it could be offset by scrapping a £200 IT Consumables Allowance which includes paper and print cartridges, and a £200 uplift on the Basic Allowance for broadband provision.

The panel's chairman Declan Hall descrbed the current allowance level as 'obsolete' and did not meet its main purpose - to help ordinary people become councillors, able to carry out their public duty without 'incurring undue personal financial cost'.

The report also recommends that some 'Special Responsiblity' allowances should go up, including the chairman of the council who would get an increase of £764, from £4,729 to £5,493, and the vice-chairman, up by £493, from £606 to £1,099.

The leader and deputy leader of the council would see increases too, rising by £1,533 and £776 respectively.

But the leader of the main opposition would drop from £8,379 to £7,324, and 'opposition spokespersons' would be down too, from £4,190 to £2,197.

Residents criticised the rises on social media today, with Simon Kirby saying "It does seem to be an excessively generous increase for a job that, in my view, should be done without reward for the public benefit.

"I accept that an allowance to cover necessary expenses is appropriate, but at a guess I'd have thought a tenth of that allowance was adequate."