A CASH-STRAPPED council which sold off a set of vintage chairs for just £5,000 replaced them with dozens of new ones costing more than £17,000.

Sixty striking leather seats embossed with the town’s coat of arms were specially commissioned for Darlington Borough Council’s chamber, which was officially opened by Princess Anne in 1970.

Most of the chairs, designed by renowned British furniture designer Peter Hoyte, were sold off mostly on eBay for just £100 each by the council two years ago, raising £5,000, which was planned to be spent on the refurbishment of the council chamber.

But information revealed in a Freedom of Information request shows the council spent £17,710 on 77 new chairs to replace them, £12,000 more than they received from selling the vintage chairs.

The revelation comes after the vintage chairs were found on sale online for thousands of pounds after being restored.

A pair of the restored chairs was found on a vintage website for £7,500, and a pair has already been sold and shipped to Japan for £4,500 after restoration.

Cilla’s Vintage, a business in Bath, bought six of the chairs from a third party and sold four at £695, with one of them being exported to Germany.

The decision to replace the chairs with lighter, more movable chairs, was linked with the council’s plans to move Crown Street Library to the Dolphin Centre and move weddings from the leisure centre to the council chamber.

Councillor Anne-Marie Curry, Liberal Democrat leader, described the decision to sell the chairs as a "huge mistake", whilst indepedent councillor Kevin Nicholson said it was another example of the council's "hastiness and silliness".

However, the council said the decision to sell the chairs was not based on revenue, and was to allow a more "productive and flexible" use of an underused space in the town hall.

Cllr Curry said: "I think some people will be quite angry about what the council has done.

"They reached their decision without researching how valuable the chairs actually were - it was a huge mistake.

"They didn't need to sell the chairs so quickly."

Cllr Nicholson, who previously said the sale had been premature due to the decision to scrap plans to close Crown Street Library, said: "It is just another example of the hastiness and silliness of this council.

"I would say people will be shocked and surprised, but they have probably come to expect this from the council.

"The chairs didn't need to be sold. You wouldn't expect a family to buy furniture and fittings for their new home before they had agreed a sale to go through.

"The council said it had no money for things like Christmas lights only a year ago. They can't keep towing that line if it isn't the case."

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: “The chairs in the council chamber, which were more than 40 years old, were sold to be replaced by chairs more suitable for use in the new dual purpose council chamber where weddings and other public activities take place.

“The old chairs were not sold to raise revenue – they were sold to allow more productive and flexible use of an underused space in the town hall, which is now generating income in its own right as a result of the change.”

The authority previously said the furniture had been valued by an auctioneer and that potential storage costs had to be considered when deciding how and when to market the bulky items.

The chairs were also offered for sale to councillors, although just one local politician took home their seat.