SPECIAL responsibility allowances for councillors in Hartlepool are to be examined at a series of meetings.

Hartlepool Borough Council's resources scrutiny forum is to examine the means and mechanisms by which the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP), which decided how much extra money councillors should receive, made its decisions.

The IRP has proposed that the following Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) be paid to councillors:

*Cabinet members: £4,500

*Chairman of the council: £3,600.

*Chairman of the scrutiny co-ordinating committee: £4,500.

*Chairman of planning: £3,600

*Chairs of scrutiny forums/ neighbourhood consultative forums: £2,700.

*Chairman of licensing: £1,800

*Chairman of the contracts scrutiny panel: £900

The first meeting in the scrutiny process will be held at 2pm in Committee Room C at the Civic Centre, Hartlepool, today.

Any members of the public who cannot attend but would like to make their views known, should write to Councillor Sandra Fenwick, the Civic Centre, Victoria Road, Hartlepool.