A Freedom of Information request has been submitted by Wiltshire councillor Terry Chivers saying he wants to establish how much the authority's councillors have claimed in allowances and expenses. 

Coun Chivers, who represents Melksham Without North, said: “Councillors are claiming thousands of pounds in allowances and we must know where this money is going. 

“I’m sick of asking for this information.

“Local residents have a right to know just how much their councillor is costing them.”

But Coun John Thomson, deputy leader of Wiltshire Council, said: "All this information, dating back about five years, is freely available through the council website to anyone with a computer or who goes into a Wiltshire library, where they can ask for help to use a computer if necessary.

"We now have a team of council officers who are, at some expense, having to respond to Councillor Chivers' request to provide information which is already freely available to him, if he bothered to look."