The boss of a quango has run up a bill for more than £50,000 on chauffeur-driven car journeys and taxis - for a second successive year.

James Brathwaite (correct), who is the chairman of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) spent £4,032 on taxis and £49,276 for his driver and car in the year up to March, a total of £53,308.

The figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act and follow last year’s disclosure that Mr Brathwaite had incurred a bill of £51,434 for similar travel costs.

Both SEEDA and Mr Brathwaite defended the expenditure and said a car was a cost-effective way of travelling around on business in such a large region. Mr Brathwaite travelled about 35,000 miles last year.

But there was criticism that SEEDA’s spending was excessive.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign director Mark Wallace said: “This is a very large bill that taxpayers are being made to pay and far exceeds the costs of people in identical jobs in other regional development agencies.

It’s long overdue for this body to be either abolished or brought back under democratic control to stop it continuing to squander our money.”

Mr Brathwaite insisted he could not fulfil his role just using public transport.

“This region is the largest in the country. I have to look after eight million people, 700,000 businesses. I try to visit as many as possible. I’m also on call to ministers, to MPs and I travel around,” he said.

In a statement, SEEDA said: “Jim Braithwaite uses a car and driver as a mobile office, making phone calls and reading working papers. This is a cost-effective use of his working time.”