WARRINGTON Borough Council splashed out more than £14,000 on 24 iPads to cut down on printing costs..

The council bought the 24 high-end iPads at £594.89 each with an annual service charge of £72.34 for each one which will see an additional £1,736.16 spent a year on the hi-tech equipment for its management team.

The purchase came to light when Clr Hitesh Patel (Lab – Great Sankey South) was appraoched by a resident in his area about the matter.

He said: “It was a local resident who quizzed me at a meeting at Great Sankey library, which the Lib Dem/Tory-run council has earmarked for closure as a cost-cutting measure.

“I didn’t believe her at first because these are fantastically expensive gadgets, but to reassure her I submitted the question.

“You can imagine my astonishment when I was told that last year the council had bought 24 iPads. It’s like Christmas came early for some at the council.”

It comes as council chiefs make plans to cut £20 million through budget consultations with the public, on top of a £30 million cut agreed last year.

Clr Patel added: “For the past year or so the Lib Dem/Tory coalition running the council has been telling us they need to cut services in order to save money but how can they expect local people to take budget consultation exercises seriously when we find out about them buying extravagant ‘toys for the boys’?

“This money could have been better used to employ two part-time youth workers to run activities for young people at weekends, reducing under age drinking and anti-social behaviour.

“Or it could have been used to run more pensioner lunch clubs.”

Andy Farrall, executive director of environment and regeneration, said: “The council must save a significant amount of money. Investment in new technology is one of the ways we can make long-term savings.

“The cost of printing essential management team meeting papers is approximately £200 per year. Add to this savings that can be made by not printing other reports, plus productivity gains from having easy access to e-mail and calendars, and the iPad can pay for itself within a year.”