COUNCILS across Surrey spent nearly half a million pounds hosting the Olympic Torch relay.
Figures released by six councils under the Freedom of Information Act reveal almost £20,000 was spent on bunting alone for the 11 days in July when the Torch was in the county.
Surrey County Council shelled out £126,232 managing road closures, with £101,428 spent on signs and £18,800 on traffic orders.
Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) spent £4,522 on medical provision, equipment for volunteers and marshals, stewards and communications, when it welcomed the Torch through Dorking and Westcott on July 20.
But this figure was dwarfed by the £330,817 spent by Guildford Borough Council on its Torch celebrations.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council spent £19,594 on crowd control barriers and safety signs, advertising and catering for volunteers – with £1,250 for street decoration and bunting and £660 on badges for volunteers.
Runnymede Borough Council paid £7,588, while Elmbridge Borough Council spent just £1,200, but no road closures were needed.
John Banks, 49, of Dorking, said: "On the face of it the numbers seem outrageous but I think it is worth remembering that it was one of the town's best days in living memory."
Dorking resident Eleanor Norman, 60, said: "I am really annoyed that so much money was spent on it. The worst thing about it all is that I was down in the High Street on the day and it was all over in a couple of seconds.They whizzed right by you and that was it."
But John Banks, 49, also from Dorking, took a different stance on the figures.
"On the face of it the numbers seem outrageous but I think it is worth remembering that it was one of the best days for the town in living memory," he said.
This opinion was echoed by district councillor Dave Howarth (Lib Dem, Leatherhead North).
"My view of the whole Olympic celebration in Mole Valley was that it was certainly money well spent," he said.
"I think it brought the community together and it was an occasion that people were talking about for months afterwards – they still are now."
District councillor Margaret Cooksey (Lib Dem, Dorking South), added: "We wanted to be exceedingly careful not to rack up the cost to the council taxpayers too much.
"We managed to achieve an
excellent day for the Torch relay without it being as expensive as it might otherwise have been because we engaged with community and had a lot of volunteers helping."
Commenting on the Surrey-wide figures, Eleanor McGrath, campaign manager for TaxPayers' Alliance said: "The Torch relay was an extremely popular event which many local residents were keen to see and enjoy, but I doubt they reckoned on being saddled with such a huge bill.
"It is now clear that there were vast disparities between how much different authorities in the county splashed out on the festivities – at a time when budgets are tight and councils need to be able to justify every penny of spending.
"Those local authorities which kept spending on the Torch relay down should be congratulated, while the bigger spenders should expect to answer some searching questions from their residents."
Meanwhile Councillor Vivienne Michael, portfolio holder for customer services and wellbeing for MVDC, said: "The Olympic Torch relay was a momentous and spectacular occasion and truly brought local communities together to celebrate and promote all that our district has to offer.
"The council and its partners were able to deliver this event at a relatively modest cost due, in part, to the fantastic enthusiasm and support shown by volunteer marshals, who worked alongside a team of accredited stewards to line the route."
