Christchurch City Council staff and elected members spent $240,811 on travel during 2018 including $42,810 on trans-Tasman travel, visiting Sydney 31 times for conferences, seminars and training courses. Spending on travel by Christchurch City Council staff, councillors and the mayor has dropped drastically in three years. JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF Christchurch deputy mayor and Banks Peninsula ward councillor Andrew Turner spent $3434 of council money on travel during 2018. READ MORE:* Christchurch City Council spends $662,000 on domestic and international travel* Big travel bill for Christchurch council despite promised belt-tightening* Council tightens up on overseas travelAccording to data released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, council staff clocked up 95 per cent ($228,000) of the travel costs to attend conferences, training courses and meetings mostly across New Zealand and Australia. GEORGE HEARD/STUFF Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel notched up just $273 of travel expenses during 2018.

Source: Stuff March 31, 2019 03:45 UTC