TRANSPORT chiefs at Oxfordshire County Council spent more than £4,500 on a meeting and overnight stay at a prestigious resort.

Seven highways officers attended the two-day workshop at the £50m Heythrop Park resort, near Enstone.

Despite being 15 miles from County Hall, council employees stayed overnight at the resort, where facilities include a swimming pool, health spa and golf course.

Andrew Allison, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It is a deplorable waste of money given County Hall is so close.”

The meeting, which was held on January 17 and 18, was in the same month the council’s cabinet agreed a £119m of cuts, including slashing £13m from the transport budget.

The authority has said the workshop was part of a new “groundbreaking” contract that will lead to significant savings.

It said the meeting was not held at council offices as “an important part of building integration, rapport, trust and joint understanding, is to have time away from the day-to-day interruptions of the office”.

But the meeting, which was also attended by three contractors and two facilitators, cost the taxpayer £4,678.36, which included £3,747 in consultancy fees.

Room hire was £144.04, accommodation cost £634 and the food bill came in at £153.32. Evening drinks were paid for by staff themselves In total, 10 people stayed overnight, including five of the council officers.

Last night the council’s leader Keith Mitchell said paying for overnight accommodation and off-site costs was not justified.

He added: “It won’t happen again.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Zoe Patrick said: “It looks bad when people are losing youth services and libraries. It is one rule for one and one for everyone else.”

The details of the workshop were revealed in a Freedom of Information request passed to the Taxpayers’ Alliance. Mr Allison added: “The reason of team-building is just nonsense. It is unjustifiable.”

But Steve Howell, the council’s deputy director for highways, said the meeting was part of a 10-year contract with contractor Atkins that would save the authority 20 per cent of its highways costs when fully operational.

He said: “This contract is the first of its kind in this country because it integrates the management teams and staff of the two organisations.

“In order to get best value for Oxfordshire taxpayers and make the savings envisaged, the contract needs to operate in an integrated manner.

“This ‘integration’ does not happen automatically or overnight. It involves a considerable amount of challenge and ongoing effort.”

On the need for an overnight stay, Mr Howell said it allowed the team to “get to know each other informally”.

Council spokesman Owen Morton confirmed staff would have been able to claim mileage expenses if the journey to Heythrop was further than their regular commute to work.