ESSEX County Council has racked up more than £1million on its credit cards in the past three years.

But the total could be a lot more as details of items costing less than £500 have not been revealed.

Hotels, travel, and theatre tickets have all been paid for by credit cards and huge legal bills of £800,000 have also been settled with plastic.

£53,000 went on hospitality and £27,000 on travel.

Unusual items included more than £2,000 of pet food, expensive retirement gifts and purchases from novelty and gift shops.

Essex county council Leader Peter Martin said he wanted to look at the details of the spending before commenting, but councils elsewhere in the country say paying bills by card actually saves taxpayers money, as it allows them an interest free period before settling up the account.

But the use of cards was described as “utterly reckless” by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

“It is scandalous that some councils have shown a fundamental lack of regard for taxpayers’ money,” said campaign manager Charlotte Linacre.

“Shopaholic councils have been dishonest, claiming to be cash-strapped and threatening to cut services while they know they could be cutting their own spending,” she said.

“The nation’s finances are in the red, and spendaholic councils who have been dipping into taxpayers’ pockets to fund their own lifestyle and perks should be ashamed.

“This is utterly reckless spending without thought for the consequence on other services or taxpayers.”

Collectively, councils across the country have spent more than £100million on credit cards in the past three years, including £2million of flights, some to exotic destinations such as Thailand, Kenya and the Caribbean.

A total of 186 councils across the country have responsed so far and another 48 have said they do not use credit cards or have spent nothing over £500 in the past three years.

Some councils have so far not responded to a Freedom of Information request to reveal details of their credit card spending. These include Braintree, Maldon and Chelmsford councils.

Details on how much district and local councils spent on their cards show Tendring council in north Essex coming out as one of the top card spenders in the county with nearly £75,000 on its card.