Plans to cap North Wiltshire District councillors' allowances to £12,000 a year each will be given to an independent panel for consideration.

Coun Toby Sturgis made the proposal at a meeting of the full council on Tuesday, following a decision to increase allowances by a total of 68 per cent in February this year.

The rise was recommended by an independent panel, which compared allowances across similar authorities.

Each councillor receives a basic allowance of £3,454 a year, with extra payments for more responsibility district council leader Coun Ruth Coleman is due £8,490.

Coun Coleman said: "It is only a few months since we accepted the panel's recommendations, which made no reference to capping the amount received.

"Serving the community should be open to everyone and people should be able to get realistic recompense for the time and effort they put in."