A BOROUGH councillor has blasted plans to spend £17,000 on a computer expert.

Cllr Gareth Anderson (Con, Ledsham) attacked the council's decision to employ the expert, despite the authority not having a fully functioning website.

Describing the £17,000-a-year post as a 'computer nanny', he said: 'This is a lot of money to spend on someone to hold our hands.'

Cllr Anderson voted against the expense at the full council meeting last week.

He said: 'A report on the matter highlights problems with internet access which most members are certainly experiencing on their council computers. However, this proposal does nothing to resolve the issue.

'If the idea were for us to spend the money on moving to a different internet service provider or to actually have a web-site which our taxpayers could access, I would wholeheartedly support it.

'However, it is wrong for us to spend the best part of £17,000 on a member of staff whose sole function will be to help around 40 councillors use their computers, especially when there are already courses run by the council which we can attend.'

The report also mentioned the growing calls from some councillors for broadband to be installed in their homes.

Cllr Anderson said: 'We still receive vast amounts of paper reports. If we were to move to sending these documents out by e-mail instead then broadband would not only be justified, but would actually save the council a great deal of money.

'Until then, we should be wary about lavishing ever more money on ourselves.'