A councillor has been criticised for billing taxpayers for £83 – the cost of her trip to a Britain in Bloom presentation ceremony.

Dartmouth town councillor Tessa De Galleani clocked up 185 miles travelling to Weston-super-Mare for the regional awards ceremony at which the town was presented with a number of trophies.

She was part of a group which attended the presentation day which included mayor Paul Allen, members of the Dartmouth in Bloom team and members of the town council's garden crew.

At the town council mileage rate of 45p a mile, Cllr de Galleani's expenses claim came to £83.25.

But when the bill came before Dartmouth Town Council – along with all the other council bills for last month – her fellow councillor Les Barnes asked: 'Did she really need to go when we already have a presentation evening in Dartmouth which we can all attend at no cost to the town council?'

He suggested Dartmouth in Bloom – which was handed a £5,000 council grant this year – should pay the bill instead.

But Cllr de Galleani, who was not at the town council's Guildhall meeting, hit back the next day saying that this was the first time she had claimed any expenses for her work on the council.

She pointed out that she is the council's official representative on the bloom group.

'I went to accept our awards on behalf of the town council which contributes greatly to Dartmouth in Bloom,' she said.

She said she had paid the £18 fee charged to attend the Weston-super-Mare presentation herself but had charged the travelling expenses to the council.

More on this story in this week's Chronicle