Teignbridge Council has defended a trebling in the amount paid to outside consultants.

Last year the authority spent £472,783 on specialist advice, up from £153,871 in 2008/09.

The biggest single bill came from work preparing the Local Development Framework (LDF), the planning blueprint for the next 20 years.

The cost of that to district tax payers last year was £293,194, up from £46,479 the year before.

Leader Cllr Alan Connett said the problem stemmed from the historically 'overly complicated' planning process.

'Local councils like Teignbridge are required to produce these Local Development Frameworks under regulations brought in by the last government,' he said.

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