A COUNCIL has spent £3,400 of taxpayers' cash on a foreign trip for its leader, it has emerged.

Lewisham Council sent Mayor Sir Steve Bullock to South Africa from September 13 to September 16 as part of the Leeds Castle Programme, a nine-day leadership course.

The news has led to criticism, at a time when the council is trying to make savings of around £15m with redundancies expected, a proposed reduction in the number of rubbish collection crews and a possible increase in parking charges.

Previous proposals to cut money spent on adult social care led to protests earlier this year and on November 8, Sir Steve performed a dramatic u-turn over cuts to the number of elderly and disabled people receiving council help.

Run by the Government-funded Leadership Centre for Local Government, the course was held partly in the UK and partly in South Africa.

The council paid £3,000 for the course and a further £400 for an extra day in South Africa where the Mayor visited Erkuhuleni, a South African local authority with links to the council.

A council spokesman said: "The group the Mayor was invited to take part in was taken to South Africa because the local government system there exists within a complex environment.

"The challenges they face are tough because they are experiencing dramatic and rapid change.

"Lewisham is experiencing similar challenges.

"But their systems for local government are radically different to ours, making their model an ideal system to study."

The Mayor was also able to look after council business by phone and email during his visit.

Sir Steve, who has been Mayor for five years, said: "It is important both myself individually and the council as a whole continue to improve our performance.

"Therefore, I was pleased to be invited to take part in this programme which enables me to look at how effectively I do my job at present and seek ways to do it better in the future.

"I may be 54 and have served for more than 20 years as an elected representative, but I believe there is still much I can learn which will help me lead the council and serve residents better."

But the secretary of Lewisham National Union of Teachers, Martin Powell-Davies, said: "At a time when they are looking to make huge cuts to council services, it surprises me they have to go to South Africa in search of leadership.

"Perhaps they should spend more time listening to us rather than travelling the globe."

Lewisham Green Party leader Councillor Darren Johnson said: "I think he needs to think far more carefully about how he spends taxpayers' money.

"Overseas trips can sometimes be useful but often there's far cheaper and more effective ways than heading off abroad for this sort of thing."