EXPENSES paid out to North Ayrshire's councillors have shot up by nearly £8,000 in the space of 12 months, it's been revealed.

The area's 33 councillors received more than £22,000 in expenses during the 2023-24 financial year, according to newly-published figures.

That's an increase of more than 50 per cent on the 2022-23 figure of just under £15,000.

The total is a combination of sums which councillors had to claim for, and amounts paid out upfront by the authority.

The total sum paid out in 2023-24 was £22,758.53, compared to the 2022-23 total of £14,978.97.

The largest total paid out to any individual councillor was £3,785.12 to Cameron Inglis (Conservative, Saltcoats and Stevenston).

He claimed £438 for car and van mileage, £850 for accommodation and £9.10 for "other travel".

The rest of his expense payment comprised £485.62 on car and van mileage, £228.40 on "other travel", £1,750 on "training and conferences" and £24 to meet phone and IT costs.

Two councillors, John Bell (Labour, Garnock Valley) and Louise McPhater (Labour, Irvine West), claimed zero expenses and also had no expenses paid by the council.

The biggest cost to the council was car and van mileage claimed by elected members, with £5,751.43 claimed in total.

The largest claim throughout the year in this category came from Saltcoats and Stevenston councillor Davina McTiernan (SNP), who claimed for £1,811.98.

The only other single expense that eclipsed this figure was 'use of the civic car', which contributed to £7,902.23 of the total expenses claimed in the financial year,

However, this is paid by the council rather than being claimed by members.

The total sum paid out by the local authority in expenses, either directly or in response to councillors' claims, has fallen significantly over the last decade, from £41,464.88 in 2013-14 to less than £23,000 10 years later.

In 2018-19, the last full financial year before Covid, the total paid out by NAC was £38,330.25.

Full breakdown of councillors by ward

(Figures only include current councillors)

* denotes expenses only paid by council and not claimed by member

() denotes total expenses paid by council and not claimed by member

North Coast

Eleanor Collie (SNP) £24*

Todd Ferguson (Conservative) £24*

Alan Hill (SNP) £1,679.15 (£579.16)

Tom Marshall (Conservative) £1,107.96 (£475)

Ian Murdoch (Independent) £24.33*

Garnock Valley

John Bell (Labour) £0

Anthea Dickson (SNP) £611.92 (£24)

Margaret Johnson (SNP) £1,362.13 (£215.28)

Donald L. Reid (Independent) £1,029.33 (£24.15)

Ronnie Stalker (Conservative) £24*

Ardrossan

Stewart Ferguson (Conservative) £25.33*

Anthony Gurney (SNP) £52.78 (£24.78)

Amanda Kerr (Labour) £24*

Arran

Timothy Billings (Conservative) £179.08 (£25.38)

Saltcoats and Stevenston

Cameron Inglis (Conservative) £3,785.12 (£2,464.02)

Jean McClung (SNP) £497.66 (£24.03)

Davina McTiernan (SNP) £1,835.98 (£24)

Jim Montgomerie (Labour) £74.93*

John Sweeney (Labour) £24*

Kilwinning

Joe Cullinane (Labour) £710 (£511)

Scott Davidson (SNP) £24 *

Donald Reid (Labour) £77.88 (£33.33)

Irvine West

Scott Gallacher (Conservative) £24 *

Shaun Macaulay (SNP) £710 (£511)

Louise McPhater (Labour) £0

Chloe Robertson (SNP) £24 *

Irvine East

Marie Burns (SNP) £744.60 (£545.60)

Nairn McDonald (Labour) £33.33*

Angela Stephen (Conservative) £24*

Irvine South

Robert Foster (Labour) £24*

Christina Larsen (SNP) £24 *

Matthew McLean (Conservative) £24 *

Expenses by political party

SNP (12 councillors) £7,590.22

Conservative (9 councillors) £5,217.49

Labour (9 councillors) £968.14

Independent (2 councillors) £1,053.66