Basic allowances of £3,000 for council members are being scrutinised after it emerged a councillor was claiming the cash after moving to the Isle of Man.

Tory Richard Falk moved to the Manx capital, Douglas, on July 28 but remains a member of Worthing Borough Council and receives the councillors' annual allowance.

Liberal Democrat leader Coun Bob Smytherman said: "The system ... is completely unacceptable. We have ten per cent of the councillors who do 90 per cent of the work, but the allowance is the same for everybody."

Coun Smytherman called for Coun Falk to resign from his Durrington seat.

Councillors receive a basic allowance of £3,000, plus more for responsibilities such as being a member of a committee.

Mr Falk said his constituents had not suffered as a result of his move and he was saving the council the cost of a by-election, which cost £3,000 to £4,000.

He plans to attend full council meetings regularly until April, when a by-election will be held for the seat and a new Tory candidate will stand.

The cost of a return flight from the Isle of Man to Gatwick airport ranges from £138 to £357, not £41 as reported in The Argus yesterday, which was the cheapest one-way flight.

Mr Falk said he would pay for the tickets himself and not claim it as an expense.