Councils spend £4.5m on cars and limousines
ARIGHT-WING pressure group has criticised local authorities who spend money on special cars for mayors and council chairmen.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance identified through a series of UK-wide Freedom of Information requests that more than £4.5m has been spent on cars for mayors, lord mayors, lord provosts and their equivalents since 2015.
The campaign group said local councils often claim there is no more fat to trim, yet the new research suggests that millions could be saved by encouraging local politicians to save money when attending events by using their own methods of transport, public transport or at the very least to stop buying luxury cars.
Since 2015, 207 local authorities spent a total of £4,513,607 on cars for those holding ceremonial posts. The figure includes fuel, maintenance, tax and other associated costs. The average spend was £21,804. Local authorities spent £2,745,097 on buying and leasing cars over the three-year period.
At least 252 cars are owned or leased by local authorities across the UK for the use of the mayor or an equivalent post holder.
In Wales, the survey showed that 13 out of the 22 councils spent money on such cars, with the highest spender being Powys County Council on £41,313. A response to the TaxPayers’ Alliance from the council listed three cars over the three-year period: a Ford Focus, an Audi A6 and a Renault Kangoo Authentique. A council spokesman said the current council chairman did not have the use of a designated council car.
Other Welsh councils to spend money on mayoral etc cars were Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen and Wrexham. Ceredigion, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd and Isle of Anglesey spent nothing on such cars, while Cardiff, Carmarthenshire and Vale of Glamorgan did not respond to the survey.
Three local authorities in England – Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East and Kensington and Chelsea – own a Bentley Continental Flying Spur, at a cost of at least £132,800. Other luxury vehicles used by UK councils’ mayors included the Audi A8 (from £69,415), BMW 7 (from £63,040), Jaguar XJ (from £62,360), Mercedes S class (from £70,470) and Lexus RX (from £48,655).
Nine councils spent taxpayers’ money on personalised number plates, while others purchased them many years ago.
John O’Connell, chief executive 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. Some travel will of course be necessary to conduct duties, but families who struggle to pay their 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.
“40% of councils didn’t lease or buy cars, so all other local authorities should follow that example and encourage civic leaders to use cheaper forms of transport. Every penny wasted on excessive travel expenses is money that could be going towards social care or bin collections.”