‘Essential to offer expenses or income to expand the pool of potential councillors’

• YOUR correspondent David Williams (Questions remain about payments to councillors, May 5 and What about councillors’ hours worked? May 19) questions the need for councillors to be paid expenses or a salary and scoffs at the idea that they put in any substantial time in their role.

Around 20 years ago a close friend was a councillor and committee vice-chair. I saw at first-hand the twice-weekly arrival of the equivalent of ministerial red boxes (then, bulky envelopes stuffed with papers to read, doubtless now an avalanche of emails and pdfs), numerous out-of-hours phone calls, urgent calls to meetings and continuous ward-related work, all amounting to a second full-time job and much of it needing daytime involvement, not just evening work.

Since then, councillors’ legal responsibilities have only become more stringent and an expanded workload takes up even more time; anyone not self-employed or with a very understanding employer must find it hard to be a conscientious councillor while holding down a full-time job.

To represent a diverse population in running a London borough, isn’t it essential to offer expenses or income to expand the pool of potential councillors beyond a narrow band drawn from some professions and the retirees your correspondent suggests?

DON KELLER, N15