Oxfordshire county and Oxford city councils have spent more than £1.4m between them seeking expert legal advice from law firms.

In addition to using their own professional legal advisers the authorities have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money in the past five years seeking the expertise of solicitors and barristers working for firms listed on a special "panel" - including Darbys, Wright Hassall, Weightmans and Sharpe Pritchard.

The Oxford Mail used the Freedom of Information Act to discover how much the two authorities had spent since 2001 and the figure was just over £1.4m. A recent directive accepted by all Oxfordshire's main councils means town halls across the county are also free to seek advice from whatever source they see fit, regardless of where it is based.

One of the most recent examples of a council spending taxpayers' money challenging a legal action came when Oxford City Council spent almost £160,000 unsuccessfully fighting to be allowed to build homes on part of the Trap Grounds in North Oxford.

Earlier this month the county council backed a campaign to register the Trap Grounds as a town green, following a House of Lords ruling - effectively ending the city council's hopes of building on the land.

The Town Hall wanted to build 45 affordable homes, but the Friends of the Trap Grounds - headed by Catherine Robinson - conducted a four-year campaign to preserve the site as open land.

In May, the Law Lords ruled campaigners could apply to register the nine acres as a town green.