Rattled by chain cost

Nearly £1,000 could be spent making repairs and improvements to the Mayor of Bingham’s chain of office.

Bingham Town Council was given the quote by the company Fattorinis and will make a final decision on Tuesday on whether or not to go ahead with the work.

But the move has been labelled frivolous and irresponsible by two former council members.

According to Fattorinis’ quote, £221.45 will be needed to replace a missing peg and to repair general damages from wear and tear, £457.59 is to be spent on six sterling silver gilt chain links and £228.72 to have badges made for eight past mayors.

It also costs 37p per character for engraving the names of past mayors on to the chain links.

The cost of the work will be met from council reserves.

But Mr John Bradley, a former council member, said: “It is time they started reducing council tax and not spending money on frivolous things like mayor’s chains.

“Perhaps if we had councillors that were less pretentious we wouldn’t have this problem. I think it’s about time that we started saving.”

A former mayor, Mr Eric Sharp, said: “They live in another world.

“They are totally and utterly irresponsible. What on earth are they paying that for?

“They use money like it is going out of fashion.”

Mr Sharp said the council should learn to be frugal with the money.

He said pensioners pay a large percentage of their income on tax but will not benefit from the work done on the chain.

The council sent the chain to Fattorinis after being told the company could not give a quote without seeing it.

The Mayor of Bingham, Mr Francis Purdue-Horan, suggested getting an alternative quote from another company, but the policy and resources committee agreed to recommend that the council pay for the work to be carried out by Fattorinis.

Concerns were raised that the chain had been sent to Fattorinis without getting quotes and before agreeing a date for its return.