Latest Teesside headlines straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The staggering cost to the taxpayer of setting up meetings at a cash-strapped council has been revealed.

Rearranging the furniture at Redcar and Cleveland Council has been costing £800 every time the full council meets.

The council chamber at the authority's Community Heart building in Redcar is designed with a removable floor, that can be altered to provide either a flat or a tiered surface, depending on the event.

Until now a removals team has been hired for each full meeting of the council - which take place roughly every six weeks - to remove the flooring and provide tiered seating for elected members.

But despite the fact the council faces going bust within a year unless its spending is slashed, a total of around £28,000 has been spent since the Community Heart opened in 2014.

The council confirmed the figures to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday as it was announced that the expensive practice had now been axed.

(Image: Teesside Live)

Cllr Glyn Nightingale, cabinet member for resources, said: “We are proud of our chamber as it's a room that is used regularly for several purposes, including community events, award ceremonies and presentations.

"Because of this, we previously had to change the chamber flooring before and after every council meeting so the room was suitable for other uses.

"This month, we made the practical decision that we no longer need to tier the flooring for council meetings.

"It will save money as we won’t need to close the chamber to lift and replace the flooring, making more days available in the year for people to hire the room for other events."

Cllr Caroline Jackson, Conservative councillor for Hutton, had intended to question Cllr Nightingale about the issue at the meeting of Redcar and Cleveland Council last week.

But as the three-hour 20-minute meeting once again failed to get through its agenda, Cllr Jackson's question was never heard.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Labour group leader, Carl Quartermain, said: "We completely welcome these changes. It's not just about the cost, there's also a health and safety aspect of it - protecting the backs of the people who have to lift out the floor every time we have a meeting.

"Changing the floor less often will also mean less wear and tear so the facilities are going to last a lot longer too."

Cllr Lee Holmes, Conservative councillor for Skelton West, said: "Over the last several years a succession of Labour councillors have stood up and defended their decision to increase council tax 'because of Government cuts'.

"Today we find out that they have systematically wasted thousands of pounds worth of taxpayer’s money paying a removal company to alter the main council chamber for full meetings.

"In my opinion this is a disgraceful waste of money and whilst I welcome the fact that the current administration will attempt to rectify the situation, I am led to believe that there will be knock-on costs associated with having to replace the desks we use as the current ones are apparently too heavy for our own staff to move."

The Community Heart opened in March 2014 at a cost of £31m.

It houses a sports and leisure centre, swimming pools, civic facilities, business centre, and multi-functional meeting and community spaces.