Cheshire East paid out more than £1.25 million in allowances and expenses to its 82 councillors during lock down – a reduction of nearly £39,000 on the previous year.

Latest figures show that £35,693 of the total saving was down to a cutback in mileage. The expenses cover the financial year from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

Councillors claimed £6,271 for travel between April 2020 and March 2021 compared to £41,964 the previous year.

Nearly one third of that total £6,271 travel expense pay out went to deputy council leader Craig Browne, who claimed £1,976 for travel in the 2020/21 financial year.

And leader of the council, Councillor Sam Corcoran is hoping more meetings can be held remotely and people continue to walk and cycle more and use their cars less.

Topping the list for allowances paid is council leader Sam Corcoran, who received £39,401.

That was made up of the basic £12,351 allowance all 82 councillors receive plus a special responsibility allowance (SRA) of £27,050 for being leader. He did not claim any travel expenses.

Cllr Corcoran (Sandbach Heath & East, Lab) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It is great news that the mileage has reduced very significantly and that's because of people working from home or using their cars less.

"I hope that people continue to walk and cycle more and use their cars less for climate change reasons because that reduces the carbon footprint of the council."

He criticised the government's 'bizarre decision' to ban remote council meetings.

"Those worked well," said Cllr Corcoran.

"They reduced the need to travel, they reduced the costs of the council and we were able to make decisions that way so myself, and nearly all the council leaders, are pushing the government to give councils the power to hold remote meetings so we could decide when to have meetings remotely and when to have them in person."

He added: "These allowances represent a fair reimbursement for the time and personal costs incurred by elected members when carrying out their responsibilities on behalf of the council and the residents of Cheshire East.

"I wish to thank our democratic services team for their hard work in presenting this schedule of allowances in a timely manner.

"We are a large unitary authority, with 82 elected members and the total cost of allowances is proportionate and in line with most other unitary authorities in England."

Cllr Browne (Alderley Edge, Ind) received the second highest pay out, totalling £31,455.

This included the basic allowance, the SRA of £17,127 for being deputy leader plus the travel expenses.

Cheshire East was still operating under the cabinet system during the 2020/21 year so the eight other cabinet members were next on the list.

They received at least £26,000 each, which included a £14,185 special responsibility allowance on top of the basic allowance, with the exception of Cllr Laura Jeuda who received £12,938 SRA, so her total was £25,289.

Sandbach's three other Cheshire East councillors received the following expenses – Councillor Mike Benson £12,351 plus £44.01 for travel while Councillor Laura Crane and Councillor Kathryn Flavell both received £26,536.92 which includes £14,185.92 for special responsibilities.

Cllr Crane is vice chair of the Highways and Transport committee while Cllr Flavell is chair of the Children and Families committee.

The total council pay out for all 82 councillors was £1,252,495. The schedule of allowances paid can be viewed on the council's website.