Systems for carrying out maintenance work at Bradford District's outdoor pursuits centres have been branded "ludicrous" by a governor who claimed workmen had travelled more than 60 miles to mend a broken drain.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth (Con Ilkley) said the incident had happened at the Council's Ingleborough Hall, near Clapham.

"I have been told that someone came out from the Council and found it was cracked.

"The next day workers returned to do the job - which must taken about two hours in travel time to say nothing of the expense."

Coun Hawkesworth has written to the Council's Director of Education, Diana Cavanagh, saying that the problems of using the Council's own workforce at the three outward bound centres had been well documented in the minutes of the governors meetings - but nothing had been done.

"It is obviously not a sensible use of public money to send a workforce from Bradford to Clapham to clear a drain."

She says Ingleborough, Buckden House, near Kettlewell, and Nell Bank Centre, Ilkley, should be allowed to go out to private companies for the work instead of automatically having to use the authority's own workforce.

Yesterday the chairman of the Governors of the three centres, Councillor Joan Tough, said: "We are not happy with the situation as it is but we are discussing it and hope to arrive at a satisfactory outcome."

Coun Hawkesworth said the centres were unable to get outside companies in for maintenance, building and safety work because of Council policy.

"But there have been instances where they have had to pay 50 per cent more for the jobs done by the Council workforce than a private company and they are struggling along on very tight budgets.

"In one case the Council's charge for repainting was £500 more than it would have been from a private company.

"And even though they pay these bills they still sometimes get poor workmanship for the money.

"It seems the Labour group is entrenched in using the house workforce, but this is not value for money and complaints that it is the wrong system have been ignored."

But Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said they would discuss any geographical problems and were involved in internal talks about the centres.

Assistant Director of Education Angela Drizi said the centres needed extensive maintenance to ensure they were kept in good order and met strict health and safety requirements.

She said it was normal practice for the Council's buildings department to do repairs and maintenance itself or sub contract it out to firms where appropriate. She said the travelling time of the staff did not affect cost.

"I would like to reassure the governing body that we do monitor the cost and quality of the work completed to assure the best value at all times,'' she added.

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