'Money down the drain' Council paying £20 a meeting for tap water

NEW caterers are charging Bristol City Council £20 for tap water at every committee meeting, it has been revealed.

- Adam POSTANS Local Dem Reporter

The total cost of the “service” per year for the 80 policy committee meetings and 156 democratic service meetings is £4,720.

The Labour opposition has lambasted the Green-led administration, saying it was pouring money down the drain.

The Greens hit back and said the costs equate to 30p per councillor for a meeting of full council - “just a trickle in the grand scheme of things” - and that the £43 million lost by the previous Labour-run authority on the disastrous Bristol Energy project would have provided water at council meetings for 215,000 years.

The new food-and-drink suppliers replaced small Bristol family business Pegasus Catering in the summer following 26 years of service at City Hall.