A £1,000 budget to buy a filing cabinet for the Nythe, Elden and Liden Parish Council has come under fire.

Lucy Chandler, who lives in the area, contacted the Adver after she spotted the approval in the minutes from a council meeting in November last year.

She said: “Slightly shocked by the item spotted in the minutes. The council has authorised a budget of £1,000 for – wait for it – a filing cabinet.

“Which costs less than £100, unless they are gold-plated of course.

“This is taxpayers’ money and they are frittering it away instead of spending it on services that would be useful to the parish, like a bit more crime prevention.

“In the past six months, thieves have taken items from my property on four separate occasions.

“Perhaps the outrageously ridiculous amount set aside as the budget for the filing cabinet could be more constructively used in promoting the neighbourhood watch areas of the parish.”

In the minutes of the meeting, published on the parish’s website, it says: “It has been agreed a new filing cabinet will be purchased, the clerk to source and order, with a budget of £1,000.”

But the clerk for the parish, Emma Hill, said that despite the budget being £1,000 it doesn’t mean the full amount will be spent. She told the Adver: “No cabinet has been purchased yet. The £1,000 was approved by councillors in the meeting but won’t be purchased until the Liden Library has been refurbished. We have to have a budget and we have to be able to lock up and secure many of our financial documents.

“Everything has a budget but that doesn’t mean we will spend that whole budget. We have a responsibility to get the best as cheap as possible.”

Emma added that if anyone has any concerns or complaints that they should put it into writing and email clerk@nytheeldeneliden-pc.gov.uk where the issues will be raised at the next full council meeting.

Chairman of the Nythe Elden and Liden Parish Council Kevin Parry added: “It won’t just be one filing cabinet. The minutes should say filing cabinets and a budget of up to £1,000. It’s just a ball-park figure so that the clerk can go out and get some ideas before presenting them back to the council. It needs to be enough to store 20 years' worth of paperwork as well as all of the equipment for the parish.”

The equipment includes litter pickers and hi-vis jackets which needs to be secured in cabinets in the authorities open-plan office.