But the project has been abandoned after council chiefs admitted they could not justify the cost.

Now the authority has been attacked by critics for wasting taxpayers' money at a time when the squeeze was on public finances.

John Bell, leader of the council's Conservative oppostion, said: "They want to get in the real world, not a virtual one.

"It's absolutely barmy. They must be out of their heads. How may pavements would you be able to mend for £36,000? How many roads could you
maintain?

"We want money spending on improving our front-line services, not this frivolous nonsense.

"Anyone with any intelligence would go straight to the council's website. This just illustrates the wasteful spending that goes on in local government."

Second Life is a virtual online world, like a computer game, where users create an avatar of themselves to move around different environments.

During 2007, the site was widely touted as the next big thing on the internet with a blizzard of media features on its future potential - however, the
hype rapidly subsided with the arrival of new social networking tools such
as Twitter.

In May 2008, IT bosses at Tameside decided to create a town hall on an island in Second Life to engage hard-to-reach groups, like those with mobility
problems, youngsters and people with 'issues surrounding self-esteem'.

The island included a 'street of services', which created links from Second Life to the council's website on issues like fly-tipping and bin collection.

Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request submitted by Tameside blogger Liam Billington have revealed the full cost of the
experiment.

The authority paid £3,250 for initial workshops on the project and almost £17,000 to IT company Second Places to develop the island - including
computerised landscaping and an events arena.

It also handed over almost £10,000 to the company for rental of the virtual land and management of the project, £6,000 for a virtual museum and £400 for
a statue.

The Tameside Second Life Service started in January 2009 but was scrapped in March this year.

A council spokeswoman said it was abandoned because it was 'not of a measurable benefit' and the authority 'could not justify the cost'.

She said the council does not know how many people accessed the virtual town hall during the year it was online.

The spokeswoman added: "We hoped that this initiative would help us reach a new audience, giving access to information of benefit to the community in
new, innovative way.

"Whilst the service has not been continued, it has allowed us to consider new ways of doing business that we may well find we utilise further in the
future as the technology matures and becomes mainstream."

ends