CAERPHILLY council chief Lindsay Whittle is the highest paid local auth-ority leader of all the former five Gwent councils - with a yearly allowance of £37,689.85, the Argus can reveal.

The amount he was paid in basic allow-ance and special responsibility allowance (SRA) during the past financial year of 2002-2003 is an 82% increase from the £20,718 received in 2001-2002.

The leader of one of Wales' most deprived authorities, Blaenau Gwent, John Hopkins, has seen his allowance rise by 115% from £14,472 to £31,140.

In April an Argus investigation revealed the best paid councillor in Gwent last year was Torfaen leader Brian Smith.

But all council leaders in Greater Gwent have received big increases in the past year, through the modernisation of local government leader pay scales by the Assembly.

Monmouthshire council leader, David Waring receives 66% more at £29,000 a year than his predecessor, who got £17,447. Brian Smith's allowance at Torfaen rose from £20,859 to £33,952 Sir Harry Jones' allowance at Newport rose by 48% from £20,718 to £30,678.

A spokesman for the Welsh Local Government Association said councillors throughout Wales receive a basic allowance - but special responsibility allowance is paid to senior councillors and leaders now reflects the size and population of the authority. He said it "goes some way to breaking-down the financial barriers to standing for public office".

Figures just released for Caerphilly council show the total amount of allo-wances paid to the 73 councillors at the Plaid Cymru controlled auth-ority was close to £1m at £918,359 - an average of £12,580 per councillor.

After Councillor Whitt-le, the major beneficiaries of the allowances are the county's deputy leaders and cabinet members Colin Mann (£25,690) and Allan Pritchard (£24,861). Other cabinet members each receive £23,644. Councillor Pritchard said Councillor Whittle and the cabinet were responsible for 90% of the decision-making at the council.

"I think the allowance he is paid will be acceptable to the people of Cae-rphilly when you bear in mind the total council budget is about £400m."