England Councils Spent More Than £6M Hosting Olympic Torch In 2012

England's largest local councils spent more than £6M hosting the Olympic Torch for last year's Games, figures published on the one-year anniversary of the start of the relay show, according to the London EVENING STANDARD. On average, authorities paid out just over £40,000 "to host the flame, funding items such as security and street furniture, as well as road-closure notices and evening celebrations." The biggest expenditures were in the London boroughs of Bexley and Waltham Forest, which "both forked out in excess of £279,000, while more than a dozen other authorities recorded six-figure sums to host the Torch." More than 150 councils were "asked to provide details of their expenditure, with Trafford Metropolitan Borough's £1,500 the lowest recorded" (EVENING STANDARD, 5/19).