A COUNCIL row has broken out over a £2.83 million bill for consultants on projects including the Lincolnshire Lakes, Building Schools For The Future and the town centre master plan.

The Conservative group called in a report on the consultants’ bills, which leapt £760,000 between 2008-09 and 2009-10, asking for the issue to be reassessed.

But the request was thrown out, with the Labour group saying the meeting to debate the issue was “unnecessary” and “a waste of money”.

The fight is over a document produced by North Lincolnshire Council which reveals the amount of taxpayers’ cash spent on bringing in outside advisors for major schemes.

The annual report shows almost £1.2 million was spent on “asset management and culture” alone – an area that included spending on The Pods, architectural and structural advice, the Baths Hall and conservation projects.

Conservative councillor Rob Waltham said: “The amount spent could have been equal to a nought per cent council tax rise, which I’m sure taxpayers would have preferred.

“Not only has this money been spent unnecessarily, it undermines the experts we already employ within the council. I strongly feel the amount needs to be reduced and should be examined immediately.”

A spokesman for the Conservative group said: “The report notes the council spent £13,500 consulting the public on budget and council tax levels. The public’s priority was the highway network, with money spent “supporting culture” an area where reductions would cause least concern.

“It is not effective to spend £13,500 consulting the public, if you are then going to ignore what they want.”

But Councillor Andrea Davison, chairwoman of scrutiny, said the Tories had wasted money in calling the issue in.

She said: “The Conservative group set up an unnecessary meeting, wasting taxpayers’ money. I certainly wasn’t going to allow them to waste a penny more in what was a blatant political point-scoring process, hence the meeting was over very quickly.”

Councillor Steve Swift, cabinet member for corporate services, said: “The report presented to me had been discussed with officers, it was debated at cabinet briefing and all appropriate questions asked.

“The term consultant is generic, it covers items such as architect fees and construction – given the amount of investment going on, of course the use of consultants would go up.”