STIRLING city council will spend around $15,000 to send mayor Giovanni Italiano to an urban regeneration and sustainability conference in Siena, Italy.

The conference runs for three days in September, but the city has budgeted $2196.53 for seven nights’ accommodation ($313.79 a night) and a seven-day cash advance of $1582.

Business-class flights cost $9938.

“I have a keen interest in urban planning and how the city can be proactive in managing the future increase in its population,” wrote Cr Italiano.

“With an increase in population comes many challenges that the city will be facing in future years.”

In May, the council spent $25,000 to send councillors Joe Ferrante and David Lagan  to California for a three-day conference on sustainable infrastructure.

Last year the same pair attended an audit conference in Orlando, Florida costing $32,750, despite Cr Lagan not being on the council’s audit committee.

In May the council voted to spend $6545 flying mayor Italiano and CEO Stuart Jardine business-class to Canberra so they could lobby the government for money.

At the time, Mr Jardine said business-class was the norm, even for four-hour domestic flights: “Such trips help foster economically beneficial outcomes for the community,” he said.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK