Taxpayers pick up Tab for Hampshire Senate

8.22.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 19th Sep 2009

£11,500 that's the bill Hampshire Residents will have to pay for the latest meeting of Conservative County Council leader's so called Hampshire Senate. The Senate was the brainchild of Ken Thornber - Hampshire County Council's Conservative Leader who appoints it members and presides as its self-anointed leader. The £11,500 latest Senate meeting lasted all of 6 1/2 hours costing Hampshire residents almost £30 a minute.

The secret meeting of the Senate took place at the luxury Botley Park Hotel near Southampton set in "176 acres of verdant parkland". 220 Senate members and guests were treated to lunch and refreshments all at the tax payers expense. Among those invited were Bankers from HSBC, Lloyds and RBS. On the agenda was the Recession and its economic impact on Hampshire.

Lib Dem spokesman Adam Carew said "This is an obscene waste of tax payers money at the very height of the recession. Ken Thornber's secret, Senate is bloated, self- appointed, unelected and anti-democratic. Councils should talk to each other and ideally in open session - but this sheer self-aggrandisement is way over the top. What next ....Togas and laurel wreaths? Its time for the senate to be axed.

"When Hampshire residents are all struggling to make ends meet, Hampshire's Conservative Leader seems to think its acceptable to wallow around in luxury hotels all at the tax payers expense. No wonder he didn't want to reveal the cost. The Tory run council has just spent £40 million making-over County Offices in Winchester, which includes a state-of-the-art multi-functional conference chamber - why doesn't he use that?"