PAYING Bridport Town Councillors £1.50 a day is not enough to encourage anyone to serve on the council.

So says town councillor Roger Stoodley, who argued at a council meeting that voting to pay themselves up to £600 a year would not help get new people to stand for the council.

He said: "At the risk of posturing again, I don't want the money and I won't take it. If anybody thinks £1.50 a day will encourage anybody to become a town councillor they are living in cloud cuckoo land."

Coun Phil Lathey said he could be said to struggle financially himself but he did not get paid for all the voluntary work he did and he did not feel undervalued because of it. He felt privileged to work for the town.

"I am not going to claim - people have enough to pay out in taxes as it is," he added. But other councillors disagreed and voted nine to two to accept the allowance.

Coun Ros Kayes said: "I think £1.50 a day does make an awful lot of difference to the lives of some people in this town.

"If this encourages any younger members of the community or those who have to work and are not on very high incomes then it is a good thing."