It is wildly inaccurate to describe Brighton and Hove City Council as a “gentleman’s club” (Letters, April 14).

The complexity of modern council work and the demands of the electors mean that councillors, if they hope to get re-elected, have close to a full-time job. One friend I know lives on his wife’s earnings so he can be a full-time councillor.

Another, with very high qualifications, realised she could only work at her main job for three days a week to give adequate attention to council work, but after four years has decided to retire because the workload is impossible and the loss of salary too great. One American review body has just ruled that $90,000 is the right figure for council members’ allowances, although in the US as much as $149,000 is paid. If we want to find councillors capable of supervising the work of officers and taking the right decisions in multi-million pound operations, that is the sort of figure we need to consider.

Derek Cole
Anglesea Terrace, St Leonards On Sea