Electoral context
I was elected on Thursday 2nd May 2024 as the first Green councillor for St George West ward on Bristol City Council.
St George West is a one-councillor ward, so is about half of the size of surrounding two-councillor wards (such as Easton, Lawrence Hill, Eastville and St George Central).
There are 16 councillors in the Bristol East parliamentary constituency:
Green: 9
Labour: 3
Lib Dem: 2
Conservative: 2
The General Election on Thursday 4th July 2024 produced this result in Bristol East:
My allowances and roles
It’s important that the public have access to their councillor’s allowances and roles, so they can understand the different areas of work they are focused on and can see how taxpayers’ money is being spent.
The basic allowance of £18,227 is paid to all 70 councillors of Bristol City Council. You can read more about how this figure is calculated here: Councillors’ allowances and payments and here: Part 6 – Member Allowances Scheme – September 2026.pdf
I also receive a special responsibility allowance (SRA) of £7,292 for my role as whip for the Bristol Green group of councillors. (This post explains how the Green Party uses the whip role in a different way to other political parties.)
The exact amount the whip receives is dependent on how many councillors their political group has, as this table shows. The Greens currently have 34 councillors so I receive £4,558, plus the £2,734 governance element, totalling £7,292.
This means my before-tax allowance income is £25,519. The mean (average) salary in the UK is around £45,836 and the median salary is around £39,039.
Since May 2026, councillors are now again allowed to pay into the local government pension scheme (after a break in this provision for 10 years due to UK Government policy) and I do so. Councillors are not employees of the council. We are, technically speaking, volunteers who are granted these allowances.
I am also the chair of a policy task and finish group (in my case, the kerbside and parking strategy) and I will receive a one-off payment of £2,066 upon submission of the Group’s report of recommendations to the parent committee (transport and connectivity policy committee). This is expected to be in early 2027.
I sit on the following council committees or groups:
- Children and Young People’s Policy Committee
- Member Development Steering Group
- Area Committee 6 (St George West, St George Central and St George Troopers Hill)
- Selection Committee (for selecting senior council staff)
- Home to School Transport Appeals
I am also a member of the following outside bodies (i.e. non-council groups that ask for council representation):
- Bristol Trust For The Deaf
- PATROL – Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London (previously known as Joint Committee for Civil Enforcement of Parking and Bus Lanes)
I was previously a member of these committees and groups (reasons given for resigning are in brackets):
- Planning Committee A (I chaired this between 2024 to 2026 and resigned when elected as Green group whip due to capacity constraints)
- Transport and Connectivity Policy Committee (I resigned when elected as Green group whip due to capacity constraints)
- Downs Committee (for reasons, see here and here)
- Bristol Airport Consultative Committee (I sat as a job-share with Izzy Russell due to my previous experience of aviation campaigning, and then resigned after Izzy had settled into the role and due to capacity constraints)
- Committee Model Review Group (I resigned due to capacity constraints)
- Bristol Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) (I resigned due to another councillor from a Global Majority background wanting to take on the role)
You can view my councillor profile here for another way of looking at some of this information: ModernGov – bristol.gov.uk
