The true cost of a £21m legal bill for Cumbria County Council has been revealed, according to Carlisle's MP.

John Stevenson, who represents the city in Parliament, has released a list of 10 things that the county could've paid for with that cash they're having to fork out to Amey, the firm who delivered highways services for the authority between 2005 and 2012.

The list of 'alternatives' the authority could have spent the cash on, includes 944 full times teachers, 84 fire engines and the budgets of 81 county primary schools.

The contract with Amey was worth more than £272m but some councillors were unhappy with aspects of the work. Unidentified council officers made the decision to withhold the final £4.6m payment to Amey, triggering the costly legal dispute.

A High Court judge eventually ruled in Amey's favour.

It is unclear what the long-term impact of the financial settlement will be on the council's frontline services

The full list of what the £21m could've paid for, as compiled by Mr Stevenson:

1. The annual budgets of 81 Cumbrian primary schools.

2. The salaries of 944 full time teachers.

3. 1,205 teaching assistants’ salaries.

4. 61 fire engines.

5. The salaries of 71 firefighters for ten years.

6. The cost to run all of Cumbria’s 48 libraries, all five of its library links and its three mobile library vans for three-and-a-half years.

7. 8,400 new street lights.

8. The salaries of 759 children’s social workers.

9. The salaries of 75 youth offending social workers for ten years.

10. 6,000 new bus shelters.

Mr Stevenson said: "It is important Cumbria County Council ensures the vital services they fund and the people they employ are not adversely affected by their mismanagement of the Amey contract and the resultant bill they have to pay.

"The fact the council could have paid the salaries of almost one thousand teachers with the money they have wasted, demonstrates just how serious this issue is.

"I am particularly concerned about the impact this bill may have on the council’s efforts to balance their budget, and their longer term spending plans.

"Necessary projects such as the modernisation of our county’s health, care and community services must not be allowed to suffer as a result of county council incompetence."

He added: "It is also important that we establish, in the interests of openness, transparency and accountability who really was responsible for the decisions that were made. I will be writing to the council accordingly.”

Mr Stevenson has previously called for an independent review to find out exactly what went wrong. But the council said it had asked the chief executive of a local authority in Cheshire to oversee the review so the process was "independent, robust and thorough".

The conclusion of the High Court trial saw the judge ordering the council to pay Amey £11.6m, as well as its own legal costs, totalling £10m.

In response to Mr Stevenson's claims, a county council spokesman said: "Cumbria County Council is committed to providing the best services possible for the people of Cumbria.

"The council, together with many residents, were unhappy with the quality of services being delivered by Amey.

"As a result, the council withheld some money and a dispute arose. Amey then launched a legal claim against the council and the council had no choice to defend this.

"The final bill of £21.677million is less than the £39million Amey wanted to claim.

"In preparation for resolving this matter, the council already had plans in place to account for any resulting costs from this case. To be clear, this expenditure has already been fully funded and accounted for."