Douglas Council spent more than £200,000 on external advocates in the last financial year.

The figure was provided in answer to a written question by Councillor Stephen Pitts who asked for the total amount paid in each of the past five years.

The largest sum of money was spent in 2020/2021 with the bill for legal services nearly £230,000.

A supplementary question clarified the local authority used three law companies for legal advice from 2018 on.

The full totals:

2018/2019 – £175,601.02

2019/2020 – £214,403.36

2020/2021 – £228,907.58

2021/2022 – £129,153.17

2022/2023 – £201,335.01