COUNCILLORS representing Leigh, Lowton, Atherton, Tyldesley and Golborne claimed £408,136 in allowances last year, figures released online have revealed.

The overall bill for the 75 Wigan councillors totalled £1,133,545, with the seven cabinet members accounting for £223,445 of that sum.

The leader of the cabinet, Lord Peter Smith (Lab-Leigh West), received the highest allowance at £52,625.

Other high earners in the Leigh area were Keith Cunliffe (Lab-Leigh East) with £29,668, Kevin Anderson (Lab-Leigh South) with £27,642, and Mayor Myra Whitehouse (Lab-Leigh West) with £23,965.

Gerard Bretherton (Lab-Golborne and Lowton West) claimed £25,821 and Susan Loudon (Lab-Atherleigh) claimed £27,474.

Unlike council officers, councillors do not receive a salary but are provided with an allowance based on their duties.

The basic allowance is £11,682 but some members receive a special responsibility allowance for performing roles such as the chairman of a committee or a cabinet member.

A statement from Wigan Council said: “Members allowances were reviewed by an independent remuneration panel in 2011 and all the recommendations of the panel were adopted by the council, which amounted to a reduction of expenditure on members’ allowances of approximately £60,000 per annum (a reduction of 5.2 per cent).

“Members allowances have not been increased since May 2009 (when they were increased by one per cent). There has been no increase in members’ allowances this year.”