Shropshire Council's £2,265 stay at hotel

Four councillors and the chief executive at Shropshire Council spent more than £2,000 of taxpayers' cash on a three-night stay in Bournemouth while attending a conference, it has been revealed.

Council leader Keith Barrow, chief executive Kim Ryley and leading councillors Nigel Hartin, Ann Hartley and David Lloyd used a local authority credit card to pay for their stay.

The cost of the stay at the four-star Norfolk Royale was revealed by a Freedom of Information request.

It showed a total of £2,265 was spent on four rooms for three nights and one room for two nights at the hotel while the officials attended the Local Government Association conference last year. The figures are revealed on the website www.whatdotheyknow.com

Shropshire Council today defended the spend, but it was slammed by campaigners and union chiefs who claimed the officials should have stayed in a Travelodge or not even bothered going.

Emma Boon, from the Taxpayers' Alliance, today said: "It is outrageous that councillors are running up massive hotel bills at a conference, worse still it's one where the outcomes are unlikely to benefit taxpayers."

Nicky Clark, from the Shropshire Cares Campaign, which tried to save the Grange Centre from Shropshire Council cutbacks. today said: "They should have stayed in a Travelodge. I think it's a despicable waste of money. "

Felicity Roberts, spokeswoman for Shropshire Council, said that in each case the cost of the accommodation was just over £160 per person a night.

She said: "We did not send anyone to the LGA conference this year and are very selective on sending anyone to conferences."

By Russell Roberts