THE cost of ferrying top local politicians around in chauffeur- driven cars is costing Welsh council tax payers hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

The Western Mail can reveal that councils across Wales have shelled out more than £752,000 on luxury cars so that their mayors or executive members can turn up to public engagements in style.

The largest spending council in terms of running costs is Neath Port Talbot, which spent £101,465 on a Volvo C70 for its mayor and a Ford Galaxy for the leader of the council – £73,538 of which were chauffeur costs.

The figures come after an enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act, which asked for details on the annual running costs, including salary, of the cars, what type of vehicles were being used and how much they cost to buy. The request also asked for information on the longest journey travelled by any local authority vehicle.

Eight local authorities admitted to using Jaguar cars as a way of transporting their dignitaries, whereas Volvos proved less popular with four cars. Other vehicles ranged from a Toyota Lexus to a Ford Galaxy to a Chrysler Voyager.

Ten councils cited London as the destination of the longest journey made by their civic/mayoral cars, whereas St Ives in Cornwall, Matlock in Derbyshire and Stansted Airport also featured.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council used its Jaguar XF to take the mayor and consort to and from an awards ceremony and fish supper in Brighton, and to and from Stansted Airport, so that the mayor could attend a festival in Ravensburg, Germany, which is twinned with Pontypridd.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, said spending so much cash during a recession was a disgraceful waste of money.

He said: “It sends the wrong message to the public for workers to be ferried around in these cars as a matter of prestige. Prestige costs money and taxpayers can’t afford hundreds of thousands of pounds for the maintenance and staffing of these cars, just to make the mayor look good.

“In other areas there are no civic or mayoral cars and the mayor uses his or her own transport.

“Use of a car for transport to London is clearly not the most cost-effective mode of transport and should not be allowed at taxpayers’ expense.”

Dr Dai Lloyd, a former Swansea councillor and Plaid Cymru’s Local Government spokesman, said: “The highest figure for civic or mayoral car use is for Neath Port Talbot Council costing residents more than £100,000.

“In these difficult times the Labour cabinet and councillors of Neath and Port Talbot must look at all savings, particularly their own expenditure and allowances rather than cut frontline public services.

“There is also a bigger issue here about how many councils we have in Wales. There are 22. Do we need so many in Wales?

“With the savage cuts that are coming from the Government in London, we all have to look at where we can make savings to ensure we protect frontline services.”

But Anglesey, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Powys councils have no civic or mayoral cars, whereas both Caerphilly and Wrexham councils opted to trade their plush motors in for a Skoda.

Mayor of Caerphilly County Borough, James Fussell, said: “Part of the role requires me to move quickly and efficiently around the county borough representing the council, and to do this sometimes I need to be driven.

“Last year when the council decided to buy a new civic car for this purpose I was delighted to see they chose the very efficient and economical Skoda Superb, as opposed to a fuel-guzzling luxury car.

“Ultimately it is about reducing carbon emissions and being more efficient in how we carry out the business of the mayor’s office.”

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/media/2010/05/western-mail-welsh-counci...