NEARLY £100,000 of public money has been spent on cannabis plants, a hammock and a lavender oil fountain in a bid to promote business in Hampshire at a national flower show.

The display, designed to reveal the scientific uses of plants at Chelsea Flower Show earlier this year, was put together by the South East England Development Agency (Seeda)who are charged with bringing business and investment to the region.

Seeda has defended its decision to spend £88,000 of public money on the Surprising Science garden, which included the Cannabis sativa - different to the illegal drug-making plant and grown under licence for commercial purposes.

The garden also won a gold medal award for plants with industrial uses, but MPs have criticised the use of public money.

The figures were revealed in a Parliamentary Written Answer by former trade and industry minister Margaret Hodge, who said the garden was designed to "showcase new scientific and innovative uses of plants".

Romsey MP Sandra Gidley said she was surprised by their spending. "For a group that are complaining they don't have enough money I am surprised they managed to spend this much," she said.

"Obviously Seeda have worked out their budget and believe this will benefit businesses in the area. Although I don't feel they should necessarily have targeted the horticultural industry as Hampshire is already well represented with the Hillier Gardens entry at the Chelsea Flower Show."

Seeda's expenditure represented a significant increase on last year when it spent £10,800 part-sponsoring two gardens at Chelsea Flower Show to highlight the importance of the horticulture sector. In 2005 it did not spend any money on the show.

Shadow Communities Secretary Caroline Spelman, who tabled the Parliamentary Question which uncovered the information, told the Daily Echo: "People who are struggling with council tax bills which have doubled will be rightly angered that an unelected regional quango is spending thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money at Chelsea Flower Show."

Seeda said the garden had been "a good use of money" to help an industry, which comprised 1,900 businesses and employed more than 12,000 across the region.

Spokesman Andy Smith said: "Last year we purely did some corporate entertaining for people in the horticulture industry, a small-scale event to network with people.

"This year we had a garden to take forward what we did last year in a big way, focusing on the importance of horticulture in the South East region and trying to develop a group of leading businesses in this sector. The garden was designed to demonstrate the different uses, industrial, medical or pharmaceutical, of plants grown in the South East region.

"We got quite a lot of attention and interest and we were waving the flag for some of the things in the South East people may not be aware of."

It has also emerged that Seeda spent at least £79,026 on cars and taxis in 2006/7 - up from £62,006 in 2005/6. This does not include taxi fares claimed by Seeda staff on "individual expense claim forms", so the full total could be much higher.

Mr Smith said he did not know why Seeda's taxi expenditure appeared to have risen by 27 per cent in 12 months but said its chairman, James Brathwaite, travelled "all over the region, pretty much continuously" for meetings.

MP Caroline Spelman said: "The large rise in the use of taxis clearly suggests the problem is getting worse, not better."