THE leader of Nottingham City Council says it will cost more than �100,000 a year to publish details of how it spends public money.
It is the only council in the country which is still refusing to publish details of everything they spend above �500 on their website.
The move provoked Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles to call the council's deputy leader, Graham Chapman, who shares his name with a member of Monty Python, "a very naughty boy" in Parliament.
Council leader Councillor Jon Collins has criticised the Government, saying it is giving councils an increasing list of things to do, which contradict its "localism" promise.
"It's a case of say one thing and do another," said Mr Collins.
"I've had so many letters off ministers saying we should do this and that and don't do this.
"On the one hand, we're supposed to be a local authority making local decisions and it's a government that believes in localism.
"But on the other – that's fine as long as we do exactly what we're told."
In a recent war of words, Mr Collins branded Housing Minister Grant Shapps "a fool" and Mr Pickles "a buffoon".
Mr Collins said that publishing the city's spending online would involve major expense in staff time.
"IT costs could only be a few thousand pounds but dealing with the inquiries generated would exceed more than �100,000 per year."
He told Monday's full council meeting that Manchester City Council created enough work for the equivalent of 6.5 employees and Newcastle five after publishing the information.
Mr Collins said Notts County Council printed almost 20,000 entries for December alone, over 254 pages. "I think when the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government has cut grant funding for this council, to spend �100,000 hardly seems a priority.
"It is a matter for local discretion, they feel it's an appropriate use of time, effort and money. We think otherwise.
"If the law changes and the Secretary of State persuades MPs it's a sensible thing to do, then we will, of course, comply."
He added that dealing with Freedom of Information requests costs the council about �500,000 per year. But Councillor Andrew Price, leader of the Tories at the city council, said Mr Collins' figures were "wildly overestimated", as Notts County Council reported that it required the equivalent of less than a quarter of one employee's time.
"That may be what the county council say, but we're not a county council," said Mr Collins.
"It's not unreasonable to go to similar urban authorities like Manchester or Newcastle."
Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Pickles said: "The deputy leader of Nottingham city council is a gentleman called Graham Chapman, which is obviously the same name as the late and long-missed member of Monty Python's Flying Circus."
Responding to comments by the shadow communities and local government secretary, he added: "It seems to me that the Right Honourable Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) should get on the phone to that gentleman and tell him, as his namesake's mother did in Life of Brian, that he might be the deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, but he is a very naughty boy.
"If it is necessary for me to use the powers that I have to force Nottingham, I will, but why should this process be held back by one obdurate council that simply wants to play politics with transparency?"
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