A SENIOR councillor has defended spending £540,000 on a bid to bring HMS Illustrious to Hull.
Councillor Steven Bayes denied claims the cash has just been spent on consultants.
He said the money will also go towards feasibility studies into the possible development of a long-term cruise terminal berth, potentially on Victoria Dock in east Hull.
Councillors on the authority's economy and regeneration scrutiny commission said there should be no further spending on the project until a decision is made.
The Ministry of Defence was expected to announce which initial bids had progressed to a further round at the end of September. However, timescales have slipped and there is no date set for any announcement.
At a meeting this week, the scrutiny councillors voted by seven to three to ask the council's cabinet to freeze spending on the project.
Councillor Steven Bayes, portfolio holder for visitor destination, said: "I understand the points being made about spending this kind of money before a final decision on the bid, but the City Plan is all about attempting to reinvigorate the economy by trying to get more people into the city, trying to get more people spending money and trying to create jobs.
"Some of the projects might not happen, but we have got to give them some chance.
"Our workforce has shrunk in recent years, other public sector organisations are having to do the same, so we have to look at ways of generating new jobs.
"It is a balance, but it's also about spending money to help create private sector jobs.
"That's what we have done with Siemens and the City of Culture."
He said the idea of bringing HMS Illustrious to Hull for just two years was part of the city's bid.
He said: "The plan was always to bring Illustrious on a temporary basis. Cruise ship operators need some time to organise new routes and two years with Illustrious here would give them that time."
However, Councillor Claire Thomas said more clarity was needed.
She said: "We have heard a number of figures around the HMS Illustrious project and if it is £540,000, we are looking at big numbers."
Cllr Thomas claimed the project was one of several in the City Plan where only limited details of spending were currently in the public domain.
"There is still a lot of information we have yet to see," she said. "We still don't know what has been spent so far on some projects and what it has actually been spent on.
"I am hoping the money is being spent on something other than consultants."
Decision was expected in SeptemberTHE current idea for HMS Illustrious is to bring the aircraft carrier to Hull on a temporary basis.
The proposal is to create a major tourist attraction close to The Deep for Hull's year as the UK City of Culture in 2017. The ship would remain in Hull until the end of 2018.
The feasibility of developing a riverside berth near The Deep is also being examined, with a view to using it for visiting passenger cruise ships in the future.
However, officials are still waiting to hear whether Hull's formal bid to secure Illustrious has progressed to the next stage of a bidding process being overseen by the Ministry of Defence.
A decision had been expected at the end of September, but so far nothing has been announced.
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