Tameside Council spent £36,000 on "virtual Town Hall" computer game

Labour-run Tameside Council bosses spent more than £36,000 on a computer game - but have now abandoned it after accepting it was a waste of money. It was supposed to enncourage use of Council services.

Cllr John Bell, Conservative opposition leader, says:

“They want to get in the real world, not a virtual one. It's absolutely barmy. They must be out of their heads. How may pavements would you be able to mend for £36,000? How many roads could you maintain? We want money spending on improving our front-line services, not this frivolous nonsense. Anyone with any intelligence would go straight to the council's website. This just illustrates the wasteful spending that goes on in local government.”

The cost was discovered after a Freedom of Information request from blogger Liam Billington.

Billington has just exposed another folly. The Council's YouTube news channel gets an average of 63 viewers and costs £9,464 a year.

He says:

Now many will describe this spending as a "drop in the ocean" compared to Tameside's £351.1m budget, but compare this to £7,500 in funding for audio books for the blind was cut earlier on in the year.