OPPOSITION parties have called for Kent County Council to be more open about foreign travel trips made by councillors and officers.

The call by the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups at County Hall follows the Kent Messenger Group’s revelation of how dozens of trips abroad have been costing the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds.

The KM Group disclosed how councillors had travelled to America, France, Belgium, Estonia, Holland, Hungary, Norway and several other countries over the last two years.

Most trips have been made by Conservative councillors, with well over half taken by members of the ruling Conservative cabinet.

But KCC makes no formal public reports on the trips and does not release any official assessment of whether they have been succsessful.

Opposition Labour leader Cllr Mike Eddy said that had to change and KCC needed to be much more transparent about the reasons why so many trips were made.

“KCC needs to show why these trips are necessary, what was gained from them and how much they cost. There are no mechanisms for reporting on this to members. Given that these are often funded by the council taxpayer, we ought to know how much is coming back to the council. It was news to me that so many trips were being made, I must admit,” he said.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Trudy Dean said: "There needs to be regular reports made on these trips.

"Some of them are justified because we need to learn from others who are doing things better than us. But I cannot see any justification for seven councillors going to Utrecht in Holland to look at community wardens, for example.

I would like to see fewer members going on these trips and some way of reporting back.”

KCC says lobbying in Europe has led to close to £100million investment in the county over the last six years.