Eastleigh councillors have voted to give themselves a one per cent pay rise for the current financial year - in line with recommendations from an independent panel which probed the question of allowances.

It means that council leader Keith House's allowance will rise from £17,300 to £17,550 - made up of a leader's allowance of £14,450 and a basic allowance of £3,100.

Cabinet members will see their allowances rise from £4,050 to £4,150. Area committee chairmen will get £50 extra, taking their pay to £2,600 and backbenchers will also get a £50 increase, which takes their allowance to £3,100.

The big jump comes in allowances for minority group leaders who will see their allowance go up from £2,550 to £4,150 in line with council Cabinet members.

The pay for area committee vice-chairmen has been pegged at £650, but scrutiny committee chairmen will get a £50 rise to £2,100 and their deputies will receive £550 instead of £500.

Cllr House told members that councillors' pay had been linked to average earnings of people living in the borough and the authority had been told those wages had risen by one per pent in the last year.

He said the change which saw minority group leaders remunerated at the same level of the executive members seemed "reasonable."

He added that research had shown there was a general feeling that not enough training was being provided for councillors.

Deputy council leader Peter Wall commented: "I support what the leader said about training and equipment. It is more important than the allowance."

Eastleigh's part of council tax bills increased by 4.8 per cent from April.