Shropshire Council has spent nearly £6,000 on air travel in the past two years, it was revealed today.

The authority is disputing figures contained in a report by the Taxpayers’ Alliance which claims the authority was in the top 10 councils in the West Midlands for spending on flights with a total of £11,822.

Council leader Keith Barrow said the council’s details were published yesterday as he claimed officials wanted to continue to openly share as much information on its activities and costs as possible with the public.

Destinations council officials went to included Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic and Northern Ireland.

Mr Barrow said flights paid for by the council related to social workers pursuing court orders for protected vulnerable children who had been taken abroad. He said others were funded externally at no cost to local taxpayers.

Trips included, for example, work by the council’s conservation team to provide expertise and help for developing countries.

A number of local schools also paid for flights for educational trips and events for local children, which were then reimbursed by parent or pupil contributions.

But the Taxpayers’ Alliance said there were 29 councils in the region who paid nothing for air travel in the past two years.

Mr Barrow said: “I hope people read through the figures and make up their own minds on how responsibly we are spending their council tax. Sometimes overseas flights are unavoidable.

“It is the council’s policy to sanction travel by air (economy class) only on an exceptional basis, where it can be shown it is cheaper than alternatives and in terms of cost of staff time.

“If you closely examine the figures, there have been only two fact-finding events.

“One of which I attended, at the cost of £60 for flights, and another attended by a member of staff to learn new ways of delivering services, but we have cut these back to a minimum. It’s very easy for groups who may have their own motives to take figures out of context.”