Cheshire West and Chester Council spent £200,000 on membership fees

Jan 28 2010 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

CHESHIRE West and Chester Council is spending more than £213,000 a year in membership subscriptions to affiliated bodies.

A Freedom of Information response reveals the largest annual fee of almost £82,000 goes to the Local Government Association – the voice of local government in the national arena.

Every council except two is a member of the LGA in England and Wales whose role includes lobbying Government for extra resources, promoting best practice and protecting the reputation of local government generally.

Council spokesman Ian Callister said: “The amount spent on this authority’s subscriptions to various professional bodies equates to just 0.03% of its total budget and represents good value for money – both for the authority and its council tax payers.

“For instance, the LGA has been responsible for fighting the case of the money owed to English local authorities by Icelandic Banks.

“In the case of West Cheshire alone, it has been responsible for £3.5m returned to public funds, having also paid the legal fees entailed, which would probably have exceeded our annual subscription.”