Kirklees Council spends £23,000 on foreign travel

May 28 2009 By Barry Gibson

KIRKLEES is spending more taxpayers’ money on foreign travel than nearly any other council in the country.

New figures show Kirklees spent £23,110 on air fares in 2007/08.

The money was spent to fund trips to Poland and France – where the council has twin towns – and for journeys to Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Belgium.

Kirklees came 17th out of 338 councils across the country.

Orkney was top, spending £318,000 on air fares, with Glasgow second on £240,000. Leeds City Council was the highest ranked in Yorkshire, coming seventh nationally with £50,000.

The Examiner asked Kirklees for information about the trips yesterday, including who took the flights and for what purpose. However, a council spokesman said the information could not be obtained speedily.

The figures were revealed after a request under the Freedom of Information Act by More 4 News.