The rising cost of steel is being blamed for the regional sports facility project being over budget. The council is now asking its external advisors to bring costs down.

The sports facility is due to open in January 2010, but this setback means a delay of nearly two months.

New figures show North Lanarkshire spent £7.1 million on hiring private individuals and organisations as advisors during 2006-07.

That was the second highest figure of any Scottish council, behind Edinburgh who spent £8.2 million. Scotland's largest local authority, Glasgow, spent just £2 million.

Central Scotland Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell was critical of Labour-controlled North Lanarkshire.

She said: "This is a colossal amount of money and I think questions have to be asked whether it is value for money.

"There's a real lack of transparency and accountability about how this money has been spent. Why on earth are we spending over £100,000 on the salaries of so many directors if so much is having to be farmed out and can't be done in-house?"

The council defended it spending and John O'Hagan, executive director of corporate services, said: "Given the range of services the council provides and the diverse range of projects it is involved with, it is sometimes necessary to use specialist consultants to provide specific advice and services.

"Examples might be specialist technical or engineering expertise to support the significantly increased capital investment by the council in recent years.

"The council is committed to providing best value at all times and any decision to use an external consultant has to be justified in the circumstances. Consultants are used only where the specialist expertise required is not available within the council or the council requires independent advice on a particular matter."

On the Ravenscraig sports project, the council capped the construction budget at £25.5 million. However, tenders for the steel frame package have exceeded the budget due to rising costs in the worldwide steel market.

It had been anticipated that construction work would start this summer, but the council's external advisors on the project must now undertake a redesign exercise to reduce costs, meaning work will not start until September 8.

Consequently, the completion date for construction has been moved back seven weeks.

The sports facility will feature full-size indoor and outdoor football pitches, a sports hall, an athletics track and a dance studio, plus six floodlit, synthetic five-a-side outdoor pitches, a state-of-the-art gym and an indoor soft play area.

Lizanne McMurrich, the council's head of community information and learning, said: "We'll continue to work with our partners to facilitate and progress the development of the sports facility at Ravenscraig.

"We remain confident that it will, when complete, offer superb sporting and leisure facilities and opportunities to the people of North Lanarkshire and Scotland as a whole."