A council leader has called for freedom of information legislation to be changed so local authorities no longer have to release "trivial" details about their spending habits.

Bob Myles, who has led Angus Council since 2007, was responding to a request which revealed the council spent thousands on credit cards over a 15-month period in which it announced it was to axe around 500 posts.

Mr Myles said that the requests - particularly by members of the media - were often an "unacceptable" means of generating "sensationalist stories".

The legislation came into force in Scotland in 2005 and means that members of the public are entitled to request information held by public bodies under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament.

But Mr Myles suggested that certain newspaper reporters would now begin to "abuse" the legislation as an alternative to obtaining information illegally by methods such as phone hacking - at an "absolutely excessive" cost to local authorities.

His comments have provoked outrage from campaigners who claim such restrictions on what information can be accessed from public bodies would be "seriously bad in terms of openness and transparency."

Angus Council's response to the request showed that council officials spent £13,400 on air travel using its Clydesdale Bank credit card account. Among other expenses charged to the taxpayer was £800 for a visit to the plush Rusacks Hotel overlooking the Old Course at St Andrews and £595 for bespoke cufflinks for guests at the Senior Open Championship, held in 2010 in Carnoustie.

Mr Myles said: "I don't know why we have to spend thousands of pounds responding to freedom of information requests whenever a journalist gets a bee in their bonnet.

"Angus Council recently spent £2000 responding to one request. How is that kind of expenditure justifiable?

"It's lazy - whenever they can't find a story they just shove in an FOI request. I'm all for being open and honest with the public but when people start querying insignificant amounts it's a waste of everybody's time.

"Maybe they should ask how much we spend responding to FOI requests every year."

Maurice Frankel, director of the campaign for freedom of information, hit out at Mr Myles and dismissed his suggestions as being completely unworkable. He said: "Local authorities should not be allowed to withhold information on the grounds that it is 'trivial'.

"I certainly do not think £600 is a 'trivial' amount when it is spent on cuff links - it's not as if someone has put in a freedom of information request asking about £1.20 which was spent on biscuits for a meeting.

"This would not be practical at all - what kind of amount is trivial? Is it £10, £20?

"What happens if someone is spending ú20 twice a week throughout the entire year? Don't we deserve to know what it is being spent on?"