Bradford Council is to shave £100,000 off its annual mobile phone spend after it was revealed the authority’s bill comes in at almost half a million pounds a year.

Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request show a total of £478,000 was spent by the authority during the last tax year on mobile phones.

Included in the figure for May 2009 to April 2010 was £56,000 in charges for BlackBerry smart phones, with the cost of councillors’ mobile phones, which include BlackBerries, amounting to £20,000.

Support costs for the Council’s BlackBerry server, device configuration and training staff and councillors in how to use the devices, totalled £23,900.

All BlackBerry devices were bought using the authority’s equipment credit allowance.

James Drury, Bradford Council’s assistant director for business transformation, said: “Running hundreds of essential services in a district with more than half a million inhabitants, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, would be practically impossible without modern, effective communications technology.

“The use of technology and mobile working means that services can be run more efficiently.

“To provide better value for money for council tax payers, we also make sure we get the best deal possible from our suppliers and have negotiated a new mobile communications contract, which will save us about £100,000 off the total annual bill.”

A spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “It seems excessive that Bradford Council has spent almost half a million pounds of taxpayers’ money on fancy phones.

“At a time when councils need to find big savings and make spending cuts, there will be questions over whether this represents value for money.

“Most people can work out how to use their own phone and don’t need training on how to use it, so it is worrying that the Council has spent money on this.”

Council leader Ian Greenwood said: “Mobile phones and BlackBerries are some of the tools that we use to do business these days but we need to ensure that we always get value for money.”

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, leader of the Coun-cil’s Conservative Group, said: “BlackBerries are an extension of IT and the Council would grind to a halt without them.”

Councillor Riaz Ahmed, deputy leader of the Council’s Liberal Democrat group, said: “We have got to make sure we are getting value for money, there’s no doubt about that. If it can be re-negotiated in the future, then why not?

“But the BlackBerries themselves are tools to do your job. It is an essential tool nowadays, whether it is for the officers or the councillors, you are doing your job better than before.”