A COUNCIL spent £1,500 flying a candidate more than 20,000 miles for a job - only to give it to a man from just up the road.

Looking to find a new chief executive, Hartlepool Borough Council paid the air fare and hotel expenses for an applicant from Adelaide, Australia.

The candidate was on a shortlist of five brought to town to be interviewed and to meet senior officials, but she was beaten to the £125,000-a-year job by Newcastle-born Paul Walker.

Mr Walker, chief executive of a Hertfordshire council, was last week announced as Brian Dinsdale's replacement in Hartlepool.

Independent Hartlepool councillors Steve Allison and Stan Kaiser last night questioned the expense of the search to find Mr Dinsdale's successor.

Coun Allison said: "To pay 3,000 Australian dollars to fly a candidate from the other side of the world is, quite frankly, a disgrace. I think it is tokenism at its worst."

Coun Kaiser said: "This is a total nonsense and should never have happened."

A council spokesman said: "The council is an equal opportunities employer and therefore has a duty to consider all candidates on their merits.

"For a job of this magnitude it would have been improper to dismiss this candidate simply because of where she lives."