CHESHIRE East Council leader Sam Corcoran has slammed the government for insisting councillors hold face-to-face meetings.

The Sandbach councillor described the move - which came into force in May - as a "bizarre decision". He compared it to the previous arrangement where meetings were held online during the pandemic, which he says was environmentally-friendly and cut down on the need to travel.

Figures released by the authority last week showed a reduction of nearly £39,000 on the previous year in councillors' expenses with £35,693 of the total saving down to a cutback in mileage.

Cheshire East holds meetings in Macclesfield, Sandbach as well as Crewe.

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

Cllr Corcoran told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "They [online meetings] reduced the need to travel, they reduced the costs of the council and we were able to make decisions that way.

"Myself, and nearly all 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."

And he added: "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."

Cllr Corcoran topped the list for allowances with £39,401, made up of a basic £12,351 allowance plus a special responsibility allowance (SRA) of £27,050 for being leader. He did not claim any travel expenses.

The total council pay out for all 82 councillors was £1,252,495.