Flights to southern France included in council's £17K spend

A recent FOI request showed that the local authority spent £16,792 on flights, however, had ‘no record’ of where to or why. 

But now, following an internal review, the council has dug deeper and shared exactly how taxpayer money was spent. 

The new data shows that £2,387 was spent on council credit cards for three return tickets to Nice, France, from Gatwick Airport.

This was so Cllr Phil Broadhead, Gail Mayhew, managing director of FuturePlaces and Craig Beevers, chief operating officer and investment director of the same company, could attend the MIPIM conference. 

Taking place last March, it is described as the world's leading real estate market event.

BCP town hall (Image: Echo)

However, Cllr Broadhead’s ticket was later covered by the central Government, which had invited him to the conference. 

A BCP spokesperson said: “The Department for International Trade invited Cllr Broadhead to the MIPIM conference in his capacity as deputy chair of Key Cities, a national network of the UK’s urban areas, and subsequently covered the cost of his flight to Nice.” 

Read more: BCP Council has 'no record' of who flew where after £17k is spent

Key Cities is a “non-partisan network” which represents urban areas across the UK and provides an “authoritative voice and alliance of shared interests”. 

Responding to how FuturePlaces directors attending the conference held in France would benefit BCP residents, the spokesperson said they attended business development meetings, speaking engagements, media briefings and networking functions to “raise awareness and attract inward investment with the aim to create more jobs, homes and prosperity for our residents and businesses”.  

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They added they attended to represent the conurbation to “showcase our region and its £3bn portfolio of development and regeneration projects to potential partners and investors”. 

The council has also revealed that more than £14,200 (or 83 per cent) of the money used for flights was to fly children in its care, along with their support staff, to airports across the country and Europe. 

Cllr Richard Burton, portfolio holder for children and young people, said in every case the flights were for essential reasons. 

“In line with all other local authorities, BCP Council has continued parental responsibility for all its looked-after children, even if they are placed out of area,” he said. 

Nice, France seafront (Image: PA)

“The decision to place a child out of area can made for several reasons but is always in the best interest of the child.  

“Wherever possible, we source support from a social worker local to the area the children are placed in, but a statutory visit would be needed before handing over parental responsibility.” 

He added that cost is “carefully considered” when booking flights, evidenced by the three airlines used all being budget. 

A further £169 was spent on a ticket to Manchester Airport for the APSE conference, which was held to give local authorities ideas to tackle climate change. 

The council spokesperson said the then service director was keen to electrify the council’s vehicle fleet and look at underground bin technologies. 

They said the council has now electrified a number of its vehicles and installed several underground bins as a result of attending the conference.