DETAILS have emerged of the thousands of pounds worth of computer and telecoms equipment given free to councillors and council employees in Darlington.

Darlington Borough Council supplied 198 Blackberry portable email devices to its staff and members, costing up to £320 each according to information supplied in a Freedom of Information request.

Dozens of laptops and internet access were also provided to councillors who claim a minimum of £8,026 in their annual allowance.

A council spokeswoman said last night the technology was an essential part of the modern workplace.

Other details contained in the document include: *26 council officers earning more than £50,000 were provided with a Blackberry, including one earning more then £120,000 *42 councillors are supplied with laptops *Eleven councillors decided to return council provided laptops. They were Couns Williams, Johnson, Coultas, Swainston, Freitag, Baldwin, Barker, Dixon, Hughes, Andy Scott and Thistlethwaite *All of those councillors decided to pay for their own broadband connection, as well as Couns Armstrong, Joe Lyonette, McEwan and Wallis.

*The laptops cost £3,820 a year in total *The council spent £9,426, for broadband connections for its councillors, on top of £1,051 telephone rental *The council pays £10 line rental a month for each Blackberry The council spokeswoman said: "All councillors and senior managers are expected to be available and undertake work outside traditional office hours and are often on call throughout the weekend and evenings.

"Without additional pay or recompense, the use of appropriate mobile technology helps the council deliver services efficiently.

"We would expect all similar organisations to have these arrangements and would consider it modern working practise to provide these individuals with an appropriate mobile phone and laptop."

The request was submitted by former Hurworth parish councillor Ian White.

He said: "I thought it would be interesting to see how much Darlington Borough Council is wasting on the likes of Blackberries and iPads. It was nosiness more than anything.

"I think most councillors get an allowance and should they choose to use a top of the line device, then by all means do, but pay for it out of that allowance.

"It makes me angry that they are looking for cuts everywhere, when they are carrying around £300 handsets.

"We are all supposed to be living in a time of austerity, but that's not how it feels looking at this."