Gwynedd Council has spent over £17,000 on air fares in the past five years, new figures have revealed.

North Wales councils spent over £50,000 on air fares in five years, and Gwynedd spent the most out of the six councils, with a figure of £17,622.42.

Figures revealed in a Freedom of Information request to the Local Democracy Service show a combined spend of £53,304.15 since 2014 by five of the six North Wales councils.

The spending has been slammed by campaigners.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “For many families, council tax is the largest monthly bill to pay, and it’s shocking that their hard earned money is being misspent by some local authorities in this way.

“These local authorities need to find millions in savings in the coming years and with modern technology like video-conferencing they needn’t spend large sums of taxpayers’ money on plane tickets.”

A Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: “Over the past five years, Gwynedd Council has made increasing use of video and teleconferencing technology to reduce the need for council representatives to travel to meetings.

“From time to time, telephone or video-conferencing are not suitable options and council representatives are required to travel to various locations as part of their duties.

“On such occasions, all travel options are assessed to ensure the best value for money before being authorised by an appropriate manager.

“It is often the case that Gwynedd Council officers will need to attend national meetings in Cardiff.

“Due to the county’s geographical location, it is often more time and cost-effective to travel to such meetings via Valley to Cardiff than to travel by train as this option enables staff to return home within a single working day so that overnight stay costs are not incurred.”

The biggest single spend by Gwynedd Council was for £784.92 worth of tickets from Manchester to Cork in April 2017 with an individual ticket for the flight costing £196.23.

North Wales Assembly Member, Mark Isherwood, felt councils needed to ensure taxpayers money was well spent.

He said: “This makes interesting reading, where I would have expected those councils closest to Valley Airport to have made the greatest use of air travel.

“Anglesey therefore appears to have spent surprisingly little by comparison with its nearest neighbours, especially when trips regarding Wylfa Newydd are factored in. It is also surprising that Wrexham has spent almost the same as Anglesey.

“What benefit was gained from them and what consideration was given to cheaper alternative modes of transport?”