THOUSANDS of pounds of taxpayers’ money was blown on Poole Town’s doomed Branksome Rec bid, it has been revealed.

Official spending figures show Poole council spent more than £3,500 on administration during the 20-month saga.

However, this figure does not take into account the hundreds of hours of officers’ time spent dealing with the issue – worth at least £100,000.

The council backed the football club’s redevelopment proposals before its own planning board then threw out the scheme.

Cllr Phil Eades, who opposed the plans, said the amount of time wasted by officers on Branksome Rec could have been spent on other projects.

He said: “They could have been using that time far more productively.

“From the start, the council knew the plans were against their own planning policy.”

Spending specified by the council on the Branksome Rec scheme included:

• £2,173 on a Bournemouth University report into the proposals;

• £576 spent on hire of the Lighthouse for a public meeting about the plans;

• £250 on hiring Poole Harbour Commissioners’ building for a special planning meeting.

Mr Eades said the real cost of the episode to the taxpayer was yet to be felt, with the cost of processing the town green application for Branksome Rec already in excess of £20,000.

A bid to recognise the rec as a town green was made by residents – in response to the football club’s plans – to try to win it special protection from development.

Should the application go as far as a public inquiry, the cost could top £100,000.

In bringing the Branksome Rec issue to scrutiny, Cllr Brian Clements said a “large amount of officers’ time” had been wasted on the “ill-conceived exercise”.

He added: “The council seems to have moved forward with a proposal that had no prospect of success.

“Both sides were put to considerable expense.”

Poole Town spent £20,000 of its own money on progressing the plans, which the club hoped would result in a new home ground on the rec.