Consultants bill East Lindsey District Council for £231,400
THE cost of employing consultants to carry out independent research for East Lindsey District Council has almost tripled in the last two years.
The local authority spent a total of £231,401 on consultant fees in 2009-10, compared to £84,704 in 2008-09. More than £200,000 of the fees were for planning and economic development research.
The biggest payout was £55,013, paid to the University of Warwick, for research into current learning provision and future employment demand in East Lindsey. The costs included a £25,000 contribution from Lincolnshire County Council.
The authority also spent £52,205 on work carried out by Focus Consultants (UK) Ltd, including £33,799 to help the council submit a bid for funding from the Government's Sea Change programme for coastal regeneration.
Advice on the optimum requirements for a livestock market in Louth cost £8,524. And £10,230 was spent on assessing the impact of a new Tesco store in Tattershall and a new Sainsbury's in Louth.
An annual report of consultancy fees was discussed by the council's Overview Committee on Wednesday.
Councillor Jim Swanson said he felt "uncomfortable" that £14,950 had been spent developing a food strategy for East Lindsey.
He said: "Do we actually need some of the things we are employing consultants to do, especially in the future when money is tight?"
Overview chairman Councillor Fiona Martin said: "We are spending thousands of pounds on consultants for planning applications which I imagine is more money than we are getting from the planning fee."
Acting chief executive Stuart Davy defended the costs, saying East Lindsey does not always have the specialists in-house.
ELDC spokesman James Gilbert said: "A decision to bring in outside support for one-off projects isn't taken lightly."
2 Comments
by Adam, Louth
Tuesday, August 31 2010, 2:09AM
“Erm, no Chris. The majority of Louth residents do their shopping in Grimsby and Cleethorpes (about 80% of spending) and would continue to do so.”
by Chris, Louth
Friday, August 27 2010, 10:32AM
“Why don't the council employ these specialist people as 'staff' instead of calling on them on an ad-hoc basis as contractors paying over the odds? If other councils got involved and they worked together, they could share these specialist resources between themselves as granted, there isn't enough work in any one place to keep them busy full time.
Spending money assessing whether Louth needs another supermarket is a waste of money, the majority of Louth residents already know they need one!”