COUNCIL bosses have spent more than £100,000 on consultants for a shopping centre which has yet to be built, it has emerged.

Burnley Council has disclosed it has paid Manchester-based property advisers Donaldsons £110,460 for work on the flagship Oval development over the past four years.

The accounts, released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), show council taxpayers have footed the bill for the consultancy work – even though a brick had yet to be laid at the site of the £70million development, off Curzon Street.

And the figures mean Donaldsons has earned about £2,300 a month for its work since the project was announced in late 2004.

However, councillors have defended town hall chiefs, saying the consultants had helped get the development off the ground.

Conservative group leader Peter Doyle, who also used to sit on an Oval working group, said: “I am not a great supporter of consultants but they are necessary. We have to consult people and we have to get advice on these things.

“It is a private development and it has been difficult but consultants cost money.

“You have to spend money to get these things moving along.”

Coun Martin Smith, executive member with responsibility for regeneration, said he hoped the council would not have to shell out any more on advisers.

He added: “The Oval is a big project and obviously with any big project we need to make sure we have invested properly and that’s where consultants come in”.

The FOI also revealed that Burnley Council has so far spent almost £2million on the Oval development. The project, due to be built on the former Pioneer site, is being led by developers Henry Boot with the rest of the cash coming from private sources, retailers and the North West Development Agency.

Earlier this year, the Lancashire Telegraph revealed that Primark and Next were in talks with Henry Boot about opening up large ‘anchor’ stores in the Oval.