Waltham Forest council has defended its decision to fork out £18,000 for an American group to perform at a free festival last year. 

1980s soul divas Sister Sledge headlined the Chingford Big Weekender at Ridgeway Park in Old Church Road, in August last year. 

Other big names including Gwen Dickey from 1970s soul group Rose Royce and Soul II Soul were among the headliners to perform on day two of the festival, but it was cancelled due to bad weather. 

According to new figures obtained by The Sun newspaper following a series of Freedom of Information Requests, it was revealed town halls across the country spent more than £750,000 on booking celebrities to appear at events. 

Each year the council stages a free festival in each part of the borough with the Walthamstow Garden Party and the Leytonstone Big Weekender, as well as a stellar fireworks display on Guy Fawkes Night. 

Since 2010, the local authority has had to save £67million due to cuts in government funding, with further large grant reductions expected.

This has resulted in the withdrawal of financial support for many schemes, including library closures, a reduction in council tax support for benefit claimants and cuts to the Disability Resource Centre in Leytonstone, to name a few.  

Council leader Chris Robbins defended the cost, saying: "Over 100,000 residents of Waltham Forest enjoyed the range of successful events we hosted last year, with the vast majority sold out well in advance.

"We’re proud of the programme we put on throughout the year, from music to comedy to fireworks displays, and believe that the community spirit and togetherness that it promotes is one of the things that makes our borough so special."

The Local Government Association (LGA) said last week councils had seen a "40 per cent real terms reduction in funding" since 2010 and urged the Government to ensure authorities were "adequately funded" with long-term cash allocations.