TOP bosses at Wiltshire Council spent thousands of pounds on luxury hotels, flights and a private members club using a credit card funded by the taxpayer.

The figures have been released for the first time by the council after a Government ruling to make local authorities more transparent about how they spend public money.

Chief executive Andrew Kerr has enjoyed a £135-per-month membership of the Royal Overseas League, which has a private clubhouse in London just 400 metres from Buckingham Palace. The total bill for his private membership came to £936.85.

A 12-month HSBC Visa credit card statement has also revealed that Mr Kerr spent £1,710 on stays at hotels include four-star luxury rooms at Rydges in Kensington and The Parc Hotel in Cardiff, while Mark Boden, corporate director for neighbourhood and planning, stayed with a colleague at Central Park in Brussels at a cost of £526 for three nights.

Fourteen housing officers, headed by Mr Boden, spent a night last October in a Truro Premier Inn at a cost of £1,232 to talk about a housing improvement project with members of Carrick District Council.

Mr Kerr, who will learn on Thursday whether he will keep his £189,000-per-year job as part of cost-cutting at the council, also spent £1,037.86 on nine flights.

The total credit card bill from May 2010 until July 2011 came to £484,440 but the council says much of that money is reimbursed by youth groups or is money managed on behalf of vulnerable adults.

Carlton Brand, corporate director for transformation and resources, said: “Purchasing cards are held by a variety of people across the council who need to be able to make ad hoc purchases which would not be practical through the normal order and invoice route. This is usually online or from shops.

“Each person applying for a card must have the application approved by their line manager as well as a head of finance, and each month the expenditure is recorded and approved by an authorised signatory other than the card holders who checks each purchase.”

Wiltshire Council said Mr Kerr stays in central London hotels to save on Tube fares and taxis and that his membership of the Royal Overseas League offers him discounts on hotel stays.

A spokesperson said: “Regarding the stay at the Truro hotel, this was the only hotel that would accept a group booking and that the only method of payment the hotel would accept was a card. It was also the most convenient hotel to the council offices available as the group did not have cars.”

They added that Mr Boden’s trip to Brussels was for an important annual meeting of the South West UK Brussels Office and that the hotel was booked at a discounted rate.

Council credit cards have been heavily criticised by Eric Pickles, the minister for community and local government.

Mr Pickles told the Wiltshire Times: “The taxpayer has a right to look under the bonnet of their council and see what decisions are being made on their behalf and where their money is being spent.”

Mr Kerr was unavailable for comment.