Southampton City Council spent £46,000 hosting the Olympic Torch

In all England's largest local councils spent more than £6 million on the event.

On average, authorities paid out just over £40,000 to host the flame, funding items such as security and street furniture, as well as road-closure notices and evening celebrations.

The money in Southampton was spent on road closures and staging an entertainment event in Mayflower Park which included live music.

Portsmouth City Council spent £58,774.40 on its leg of the event while Isle of Wight Council spent £11,680.

The figures published today were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

But Hampshire County Council was among a number of did not record any expenditure, saying costs - apart from whatever staff overtime was incurred but not calculable - were met by the district authorities or town councils.

Earlier this year it was revealed that the county is almost £50million better off thanks to the Olympic Games Figures from LOCOG and the Olympic Delivery Authority show that 183 Olympic business contracts with Hampshire firms have generated around £36million.

Meanwhile, according to the council with the Olympic Torch having spent more time in Hampshire than any other county, and supported by around 450,000 residents lining Hampshire’s streets, the torch relays boosted Hampshire’s local economy by around £10million.

The torch goes through a rain-soaked Lymington

The biggest spends on the torch were in the London boroughs of Bexley and Waltham Forest, who both forked out in excess of £279,000, while more than a dozen other authorities recorded six-figure sums to host the Torch.

Those councils who enjoyed multiple visits from the iconic flame and its formidable entourage often reported larger spends than those whose glimpse of the parade was fleeting, while larger authorities with huge populations understandably spent more than their smaller counterparts.

More than 150 councils were asked to provide details of their expenditure, with Trafford Metropolitan Borough's £1,500 the lowest recorded.

Flick Rea, chairman of the Local Government Association's culture, tourism and sport board, said councils wanted to make the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity memorable.

She said: ''The torch relay was a huge logistical challenge.

''Without council efforts in managing thousands of road closures, recruiting a small army of volunteer marshals, setting up safety barriers and managing crowds, cleaning up after the cavalcade and handling a vast range of other issues, it simply wouldn't have happened.

''The cost to each council could be affected by many things. Few, if any, meaningful conclusions can be drawn by comparing expenditure on an issue with so many variables.''

The flame arrived in Cornwall on May 18 from Athens on a flight which counted former England football captain David Beckham among its passengers.

But it was Hampshire’s Olympic sailing hero Ben Ainslie (below) - who would go on to win a record-breaking fourth gold medal later in the Games - who was the first to run with the torch, when he left Land's End among much fanfare and international media coverage the following morning.