‘Broke’ councils spend £4.5m on luxury cars
Bentleys, Mercs and Jags for executives and mayors
TOWN halls are splurging millions on luxury cars for civic dignitaries while pushing up council taxes and axing local services, figures reveal.
They show 207 local authorities have spent more than £4.5million on cars for their executives, mayors, lord mayors, lord provosts and equivalents since 2015.
A total of £2.7million went on buying and leasing vehicles including Bentleys, Jaguars, BMWs and Mercedes, while the rest covered fuel, maintenance and tax.
Nine councils have even splashed out on personalised number plates, with one spending almost £700.
Over the same period, council tax has increased by an average of £188, according to the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which obtained the figures through a Freedom of Information Act request. Local authorities have complained about a shortage of funding and residents in many areas have experienced cuts in services such as bin collections and local road maintenance.
The councils with the grandest taste in cars include Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East and Kensington and Chelsea, which all own a Bentley Continental Flying Spur worth £133,000 to £170,000.
Kensington and Chelsea also runs a Jaguar XJ, costing more than £60,000. Other town halls with a penchant for flash cars include Perth and Kinross and Rotherham, which each own the £69,000 Audi A8, and Belfast, which owns two BMW 7 Series costing around £63,000.
Oldham, Kingston upon Thames, Dartford, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Elmbridge in Surrey and Stoke-on-Trent all ferry dignitaries and council bosses around in Mercedes.
Glasgow, which has three luxury VW Phaetons, ran up the biggest bill of £107,661 on leas ing, maintenance and fuel. Councils that forked out on personalised number plates include Derry City and Strabane, which paid £600, and Antrim and Newtownabbey, which splashed out just over £690 excluding VAT.
John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers are tired of hearing local authorities say they have no money left when there are still instances of excessive spending.
‘Families who struggle to pay council tax bill will roll their eyes at the thought of their hard-earned money being spent on Bentleys and Jaguars for politicians to attend functions.
‘Every penny wasted on excessive travel expenses is money that could be going towards social care or bin collections.’
He noted that 165 of the 372 local authorities that responded to the Freedom of Information request did not lease or buy cars for dignitaries, while others chose more modest vehicles such as Fords and Skodas.