Selby councillors could be set for a pension and retirement lump sum.

If a proposal is approved and the majority of the 41 councillors take up the offer, it could cost the council up to £20,000 a year.

District council chiefs are recommending that the independent remuneration panel - which recently set the controversial salary payments for Selby councillors - be reconvened to consider pension provisions for members.

Councillors are on a basic £3,300 a year, with committee chairmen and group spokesmen and women on £6,600, and the council leader on £9,900.

Under the proposed pension scheme, each councillor would contribute six per cent of his council salary towards his or her pension - with the employer contributing 18 per cent.

For a councillor on the basic £3,300 salary, this would cost the council an extra £600 a year, and for those on £6,600 an extra £1,200.

A councillor who left the scheme or retired would also be entitled to a lump sum grant of three times his pension. Spouses and children's benefits would also be covered.

Council chiefs say that councillors are now eligible for pension rights following new Government legislation.

Selby councillor Wendy Nichols (Lab), a full-time Unison worker employed by North Yorkshire County Council, said she was fully behind the proposed new members' pension scheme.

The 45-year-old mother-of-two said: "Selby would be part of the county council's final salary pension fund and I fully intend to take up the offer.

"It would be useful for someone like me, as well as being an incentive for younger people to stand as councillors, in the same way as MPs."

But council leader Mark Crane (Con) said: "I think there's a case for members who have given up some work time, which could affect their company pension, to be included in the council pension scheme.

"But ratepayers have seen us get salaries and heard Labour suggest we get laptop computers, and if they are seen to be paying our pensions as well, it could be the final nail in the coffin."

The proposal will be discussed by the council's Policy and Resources Committee next Tuesday.

Updated: 15:00 Friday, July 25, 2003