Revealed: How much the Council spent on air travel for Calderdale officials

New research released today has revealed the cost to Calderdale taxpayers of flights for local bureaucrats over the last three years.
How much did Calderdale Council pay for air travel for officials?How much did Calderdale Council pay for air travel for officials?
How much did Calderdale Council pay for air travel for officials?

The figures compiled by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) show local authorities in Britain have spent £6,792,500 on air travel, with each local authority spending an average of £29,152.

In England, where council tax has risen by 57 per cent in real terms over the last 20 years, councils spent an annual average of £976,817 on flights since 2015.

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In Calderdale £5,804.88 was spent on air travel for three trips to Europe and one journey outside the EU.

John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “For many families, council tax is the largest monthly bill to pay, and it’s shocking that their hard earned money is being misspent by some local authorities in this way.

"These local authorities need to find millions in savings in the coming years and with modern technology like video conferencing they needn't spend large sums of taxpayers' money on plane tickets."

Key findings:

Between January 1 2015 and February 2018 at least £6,792,500 was spent by English, Welsh and Scottish local authorities on flights. On average, each local authority spent £29,152 on flights.

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The local authority that spent the most on flights in the UK was Orkney Islands Council, with £899,552. The local authority in the mainland UK that spent the most on flights was Manchester City Council, with £199,977.

At least 5,393 non-domestic return flights were taken by 182 local authorities.

A total of 144 return flights were taken in non-economy cabins, such as premium economy and business class. 18 local authorities took business class flights and 17 took premium economy flights.