Councils spending thousands on stars
Local authorities hand out whopping tax increases while hobnobbing with pop stars and celebrities
Town halls have spent more than £1million on hiring television personalities and pop singers while cutting services and pushing through inflation-busting council tax increases. Nearly 100 councils spent thousands of pounds engaging celebrities including Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood from Strictly Come Dancing, and gardening presenters Bob Flowerdew and Carol Klein, to attend festivals and to switch on Christmas lights.
TOWN halls have spent more than £1 million on hiring celebrities while cutting services and pushing through inflation-busting council tax increases,
The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Nearly 100 councils have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds engaging celebrities including Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood, two judges on the BBC’S Strictly Come Dancing as well as Bob Flowerdew, BBC Radio 4’s
Gardeners Question Time judge and Ray Mears, the survival TV star.
The celebrities were paid thousands for turning on Christmas lights, opening salmon fishing seasons and even hosting an event to highlight council budget cuts.
Scouting for Girls, a pop group, and Nadine Coyle, from the pop group Girls Aloud, were paid £29,000 to switch on St Helens council’s Christmas lights. Carol Klein, a gardening expert and presenter, took £9,000 to appear at Chorley flower show.
“Mr Bloom”, a Cbeebies character, was given £14,000 for festival performances and Jean-christophe Novelli, a celebrity chef, took thousands for appearing at three cookery festivals.
Some celebrities performed free or for charity. Ledley King, the former footballer, headed a campaign against “No Ball Games” signs without pay. He also switched on Christmas lights and presented awards for a council in north London all for no fee.
The news has emerged as millions of households across the UK face their biggest council tax rise in 15 years, with average bills set to soar 5.1 per cent, twice the rate of inflation. Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: “It will be a bitter pill to swallow for hardpressed families to learn that their money is being frivolously spent on paying B-list celebrities thousands to cut ribbons and switch on lights. “At a time when taxpayers are facing some of the biggest council tax hikes in more than 10 years, politicians are failing to prioritise.” South Tyneside council spent £403,000 on stars including pop stars KT Tunstall and The Proclaimers and David Baddiel, the comedian, for a music festival. In January the same authority said
it wanted to increase council tax 5 per cent, including a social care precept.
St Helens paid £82,300 on 20 celebrities over four years, including £30,000 on Christmas lights events – Scouting for Girls (£15,000) the Lightning Seeds (£10,000) and 5ive (£5,000).
Earlier this month St Helens said it may start collecting rubbish bins just once every three weeks despite a council tax increase of 5.99 per cent.
Another big spender was Chorley council, which spent £25,600 on celebrities including Flowerdew and Klein to speak at the Chorley Flower Show, despite announcing in 2016 that it would charge households £30 a year to collect garden refuse.
Dame A S Byatt, the novelist, was paid £2,000 by Harrogate council to attend a local art gallery and write an article. Jo Coburn, presenter of the BBC’S
Daily Politics, was paid £2,500 by Brent council to “draw interest to the council’s budget consultation events”.
Wayne Hemingway, the fashion designer, received £1,500 from Harrow council for taking part in a housing conference, while Bussell, the former ballet dancer, was given an undisclosed sum by South Somerset council to open a local venue. A Local Government Association
spokesman said: “Councils use celebrities to help promote key events in their local area, bringing wider benefits which far outweigh the initial cost.”
South Tyneside said its festival was “hugely popular” and boosted tourism. St Helens said it will stop funding events from next year because of a £90 million cut in its budget up to 2020. Chorley council said: “Wellknown personalities bring people into Chorley, who spend while they are here.” Brent council said the scale of cuts meant it had “to engage as many people as possible in the consultation”.
‘Money is frivolously spent on paying B-list celebrities to cut ribbons and switch on lights’