A SURVEY of town halls has revealed Bury Council staff spent more than £1.5 million on local authority payment cards over three years — the fifth highest in the country.

The Daily Telegraph asked councils how much staff spent using the cards between June, 2008, and March, 2010, and 186 out of 468 authorities responded.

Three rural councils topped the list, with Cornwall Council spending £8.9 million, Pembrokeshire £5.4 million and Highland spending £2.8 million.

Wrexham Council came next with £2.7 million followed by Bury with £1.504,857.

Bury staff spent £64,448 on maintenance, £349,548 on legal expenses, £63,764 on IT equipment and £16,919 on hotels.

They spent £12,022 on training, £7,167 on stationery, £4,126 on furniture, £73,103 on travel, £503 on hospitality and £111,646 on food.

That includes mobile phone bills, water payments for council buildings and feeding councillors in the town hall canteen before evening meetings. It also includes the flight costs for council staff visiting Bury’s twin towns in France, Germany and China.

One element of controversy is that of £801.630 categorised as “other”.

A Taxpayers’ Alliance spokesman said: “This is taxpayers’ money and yet taxpayers have no way of finding out what this category means.”

Cllr Michael Hankey is the deputy leader of the Conservatives, who controlled the town hall during the time of the expenditure.

He said: “Bury was the only Greater Manchester council to respond with details of council spending using purchase cards. The council incurs costs that must be met and purchase cards are an efficient way to do this. The council operates according to Government guidelines on the use of purchase cards with close controls in place to ensure value for money.

“The list appears to show legitimate and transparent expenses.  Now in opposition in Bury, we will continue to closely scrutinise the new Labour administration to ensure that taxpayers’ money is protected.”

The council’s resources executive director, Mike Owen, said: “Less than half of all councils resp-onded to the Telegraph’s survey, so our ranking of fifth highest spender is not necessarily a true position. We were also the only council in Greater Manchester to respond, which I would suggest shows Bury’s commitment to open-ness and transparency.

“Bury’s use of purchasing cards is actually to be welcomed, as it reduces bureaucracy and paper, and saves us money on postage costs and bank charges. There appears to be nothing in the list that indicates any impropriety. For instance, the figures about flights to Canada relate to the emigration of a child we were looking after.

“Despite this I intend to review all the transactions over the last three years, and will take appropriate action if any areas of concern emerge.”