Councils spend more than £50k on air fares in 5 years
‘THESE LOCAL AUTHORITIES NEED TO FIND MILLIONS IN SAVINGS... WHY ARE THEY SPENDING LARGE SUMS OF OUR MONEY ON PLANE TICKETS?’
N ORTH Wales councils spent over £50,000 on air fares in five years, but one spendthrift authority didn’t spend a penny on flights.
Figures revealed in a Freedom of Information request to the Local Democracy Service show a combined spend of £53,304.15 since 2014 by five of the six North Wales councils.
Flintshire was the only authority that didn’t use any flights during this period.
But the spending has been slammed by campaigners.
John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “For many families, council tax is the largest monthly bill to pay, and it’s shocking that their hard earned money is being misspent by some local authorities in this way.
“These local authorities need to find millions in savings in the coming years and with modern technology like video conferencing they needn’t spend large sums of taxpayers’ money on plane tickets.”
Gwynedd topped the spending list, having spent £17,622.42
A Gwynedd council spokesperson said: “Over the past five years, Gwynedd Council has made increasing use of video and teleconferencing technology to reduce the need for council representatives to travel to meetings.
“From time to time, telephone or video conferencing are not suitable options and council representatives are required to travel to various locations as part of their duties.
“On such occasions, all travel options are assessed to ensure the best value for money before being authorised by an appropriate manager.
“It is often the case that Gwynedd council officers will need to attend national meetings in Cardiff. Due to the county’s geographical location, it is often more time and cost-effective to travel to such meetings via Valley to Cardiff than to travel by train as this option enables staff to return home within a single working day so that overnight stay costs are not incurred.”
The biggest spend by Gwynedd was for £784.92 worth of tickets from Manchester to Cork in April 2017 with an individual ticket for the flight costing £196.23.
Conwy had the second biggest spend at £14,960.13. Of this amount, £1,347.21 went on air fares for county councillors, the single biggest purchase by the county was £1,256.16 with the Japanese airline ANA.
A spokeswoman for Conwy council said: “Checks are in place to make sure a flight is only booked if it is the most cost effective solution.
“In a number of cases the cost of flights was covered by grant funding, and in a number of cases travel was a requirement of our partnership or grant arrangements with other organisations.”
Most of Anglesey’s £8,311.63 was spent on flights to and from Cardiff for meetings at the National Assembly.
£2,646.27 was used to buy tickets for a connecting flight in Hong Kong for Cllr Carwyn Jones and Cllr Dylan Williams for a meeting with Horizon in relation to Wylfa Newydd.
A spokesman for the Isle of Anglesey council said: “It was a key opportunity to improve knowledge, understanding and strengthen working relationships with Horizon Nuclear Power, developer and operator of the proposed new power station, and its owners, Hitachi.”
Wrexham spent £8,170.90 on flights during the five-year period, including trips to Krakow, Lisbon and Belfast.
Mark Owen, Head of Finance at Wrexham council, said : “These fares would have covered flights to events where the presence of a representative for, or officer of, the council was required, and as such options such as teleconferencing would have been impractical or not satisfactory.
“And alternative transport, such as by rail, would have proven more expensive, or – again – impractical.
“We are also aware that in some instances, the cost of flights were reimbursed by the organising body of the event at which the council was in attendance.”
Denbighshire had the smallest spend at £4,238.55.
North Wales AM, Mark Isherwood, felt councils needed to ensure taxpayers’ money was well spent.
He said: “This makes interesting reading, where I would have expected those councils closest to Valley Airport to have made the greatest use of air travel.
“Anglesey therefore appears to have spent surprisingly little by comparison with its nearest neighbours, especially when trips regarding Wylfa Newydd are factored in.
“It is also surprising that Wrexham has spent almost the same as Anglesey. What benefit was gained from them and what consideration was given to cheaper alternative modes of transport?”