Consultants bill comes to £1m

This makes it number four in the league table of Northern Ireland’s 26 local authorities.

The figure of 985,771 is around 11 per cent of the overall total of 9.2 million handed out by Northern Ireland councils, with Belfast well ahead of the rest on a massive 8 million.

Number two is Newtownabbey Borough Council with 3.3 million, and third is Down District Council on 2.8 million.

Craigavon comes in at number four, and next down the list is Ballymena Borough Council with 841,000.

Craigavon’s neighbouring council Dungannon and South Tyrone is fifth with 680,000, followed closely by Ards at just 1,000 behind.

Next-door Armagh is also pretty high up the list with 562,000, Lisburn spent 455,000, while Banbridge is one of the lowest spenders with 188,000.

Lowest in the table is Castlereagh with 48,000, while the only other two in five figures are Carrickfergus with 78,000 and Cookstown on 83,000.

The figures were released by Environment Minister Edwin Poots in response to a question by Councillor Dolores Kelly, leader of the SDLP group on Craigavon Borough Council.

She said: “There are some pretty startling figures involved. There has to be a rethink here by councils on how they spend ratepayers’ money and where the best value for money can be found.

“There are a lot of highly paid officers and civil servants employed by our councils and yet still large amounts of public money are being filtered into the coffers of consultancy agencies.

“I’m not saying there is no need for consultants, they can provide an area of expertise and guidance for our councils, but there is also an air of inevitability surrounding consultants and the value for money they deliver.”