Council splashes out £12,000 on designer taps after wasting thousands on bottled water

A council criticised for spending thousands of pounds on bottled water has bought six designer taps costing £2,000 each.

Hampshire County Council bought the Zip Hydrotaps as part of a £40million taxpayer-funded renovation of its HQ in Winchester.

Some £1.25million was spent on furniture alone, including designer desks and chairs.

Earlier this year residents were furious after it was revealed that the council was spending £141,000 every year on bottled water for staff.

Council tax rocketed by 4.5 percent this year - a rise of £43 pounds for residents in a Band D property.

The new furniture at the office includes multi-coloured designer chairs and posh new seats for rest areas where pen-pushers can put their feet up.

Top brass can relax at their desks in comfort - because the council has bought director’s chairs with tiltable head rests and adjustable lumber support.

Hampshire County Council said they got a discount when ordering the £2,000 pounds a time taps - but refused to say how much the bumper sum was reduced by.

An advert for the designer taps on WaterCoolersDirect.com said that the devices have ‘an impressive flow rate’ - perfect for the bureaucrat who wants a coffee in a hurry.

The advert reads: ‘The taps are able to dispense freshly filtered chilled and boiling water with an impressive flow rate that will meet the needs of any office or busy home.

‘They provide perfect tasting tea and coffee is made in an instant without waiting for a kettle to boil.’

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Adrian Collett said today that the new taps were a waste of money.

‘It sounds extraordinarily extravagant to spend £2,000 pounds on a tap,’ he said.

‘There was an issue about spending too much on bottled water and now they”ve gone and spent this money on taps.’

Council chief executive Andrew Smith defended the council’s spending on furniture and said that the new equipment was of better quality.

He said the new desks saved space as they were smaller - making room in the office for 150 extra bureaucrats at their headquarters, so smaller offices can be sold.

He added: ‘The lighting system has sensors which automatically switch off when the spaces are not occupied and when daylight levels are not sufficient to work by.’