THOUSANDS of pounds are being spent on providing mayoral vehicles across Dorset, figures reveal.

Freedom of Information requests submitted by campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance show Christchurch council spent £24,647 on its mayoral vehicle between April 2015 and March 2018.

This includes the £12,333 purchase cost of the current Audi A6 from May 2017, as well as a £9,287 leasing for the previous period and costs for fuel and maintenance.

Bournemouth council spent £8,904 on its Ford Fairline Dorchester Limo, on fuel and maintenance.

Borough of Poole did not respond to the request in time but told the Echo it spent £8,905 over the three years on fuel and maintenance for its own Ford Fairline Dorchester Limo.

The Alliance says councils should cut spending on “luxury cars” and channel the money into services.

Chief executive John O’Connell said: “Taxpayers are tired of hearing local authorities say they have no money left when there are still instances of excessive spending. Some travel will of course be necessary to conduct duties but families who struggle to pay their council tax bill will roll their eyes at the thought of their hard-earned money being spent on Bentleys and Jaguars for politicians to attend functions.

“Forty per cent of councils didn’t lease or buy cars, so all other local authorities should follow that example and encourage civic leaders to use cheaper forms of transport.

“Every penny wasted on excessive travel expenses is money that could be going towards social care or bin collections.”

Christchurch council said it had saved money by buying the car last year when its lease came to an end. The option to renew the lease would have cost £9,850 by May 2019, but the council expects to recoup the £10k from the sale of the car next year.

However, the borough said no decision had yet been made on the future of the vehicle beyond April 2019.

Bournemouth and Poole councils did not provide a justification for spending on official vehicles when contacted by the Echo.

Both vehicles have personalised number plates. An informal valuation of Poole’s ‘APR 1’ plate, estimates its value at £30k.

The initials are thought to stand for ‘A Poole Registration 1’ as it was the very first Poole registration.

The study shows that, since 2015, 207 local authorities spent £4,513,607 on cars for mayors, lord mayors, lord provosts and and their equivalents. The average spend was £21,804.

Over that same time period, council tax in England has increased by an average of £188.

Outside the conurbation, East Dorset District Council spent £10,286 on a Vauxhall Insignia and later a Skoda Superb, chiefly on leasing costs.

Neither Purbeck District Council nor the county council spent a penny on mayoral vehicles in that time, according to the figures.

North Dorset District Council, like Poole, failed to provide a response in time.