MORE than £5m of taxpayers' money has been spent on the Arcade site in Walthamstow, with little to show for it.

Council bosses have shelled out £170,000 on security, £440,718 on demolition costs, £210,000 to "manage" the site, and £603,000 for external advisors, lawyers and other costs.

It also forked out £3,958,569, almost £4m, in compensation payments to buy out businesses previously on the site, only for it to lie empty for a further two years.

In total, the cost to taxpayers has been £5.4m.

Deputy leader of the Conservative group, Cllr Matt Davies, who lives in Walthamstow, was scandalised, especially by the £210,000 given by one council department to another to manage the site.

"How do you manage a hole in the ground exactly?" he asked.

Cabinet member for regeneration, Cllr Terry Wheeler, defended some of the payments.

He said: "The compensation payment relates to the Compulsory Purchase Order issued against some of the businesses.

"These costs would have to be paid before the site was developed and it is likely the amount of compensation would have increased as time passed.

"The demolition costs of £440,718 were used to match fund European Funding and attracted £1.7m additional European funding into the town centre."

He also wanted to quash rumours that ending the partnership with Henry Boot cost the council an opt-out fee, saying that none was needed as both parties decided to end the partnership.

Caramel Quin, chairwoman of the Cleveland Park Residents' Association, said that it was important to look to the future.

"What matters to our residents right now is that no more decisions about the Arcade site are made behind closed doors, and not another penny gets spent without public consultation," she said.

"The entire community should decide, not a handful of councillors."

Cllr Davies agreed: "The council should put the site out on the open market, then make a transparent decision in public."

He said that the public should vote on which scheme they liked best and a decision should be made based not just on cost but what would be best for local people.