Cash-strapped Oxfordshire County Council is handing out £35 to people being invited to give their views on its controversial ‘super council’ bid.

The cash payments – funded by taxpayers – have been offered to people attending a series of focus groups on the ‘One Oxfordshire’ proposal.

But it was branded ‘extraordinary’ by Oxford City Council deputy leader Ed Turner, who said it was ‘wasteful’ to give away the money days after cuts to services for the disabled and elderly were voted through in a new county council budget on Monday.

The city council opposes plans for a council shake-up, which could see it and other authorities abolished and replaced.

Mr Turner said: “At a time when the county council says there is no money for vital services I am astonished it is giving bundles of banknotes to people taking part in its consultation exercise as it tries to get other councils abolished.”

However, Oxford City Council has also spent taxpayers’ money on promoting its own proposals, including advertisements in The Oxford Times.

The company hired by the county council, Opinion Research Services, has been phoning people and offering them the £35 incentive to attend workshops.

The council’s contract with the firm is worth £49,775 and includes an online survey, door-to-door survey and workshops as well as the focus groups.

A letter to someone registered to attend – passed to the Oxford Mail – said: “First of all, you will receive an incentive of £35 cash to cover any expenses you may have incurred in attending the workshop and as a token of our appreciation for you finding the time to come along.”

Paying people to take part in focus groups is common practice in market research. 

But the handouts offered by the county council are the latest example of a war being waged online and over the airwaves by it and other authorities.

The county council says it has put aside £200,000 for promoting its ‘One Oxfordshire’ proposal.

The authority said it had held five such workshops on the proposal at a total cost of £630. 

County council spokeswoman Emily Reed said it was ‘standard practice’ and insisted the costs attached ‘need be put in the context of the £400,000 per week being currently wasted on running six councils’.

The focus group sessions are part of a range of events including drop-in events in libraries, surveys and workshops.

She said:  “As it is such an important decision we want to reach out to and listen to the views of people who will be directly affected, not just campaigners.  

“This is not a formal consultation on a set of fixed proposals.  It is a wide ranging exercise to gain feedback as part of the evidence base we will use in refining the draft proposals, and forming a final version of them.”