They thought they were pioneers of the new digital age.
But when council chiefs spent a massive £36,000 building a virtual town hall there was only one problem - hardly anybody used it.
Bosses at Tameside Council, in Greater Manchester, were persuaded to set up an office in Second Life, the virtual world that was meant to revolutionise how we use the Internet.
Using on-screen versions of themselves called avatars, people would be able to 'walk' in to the building and obtain advice about local services without leaving their homes.
However with Second Life's resolute failure to transform the lives of residents, the project was quietly dropped after barely a year.
Yesterday, amid a climate of swingeing cuts in public services, the total cost was revealed - provoking a torrent of criticism.
John Bell, leader of the council's Conservative opposition, 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.'
And Fiona McEvoy, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Tameside Council must have been living on a different planet, never mind a virtual world, if they thought this ludicrous project would ever be of benefit to taxpayers.
'Public finances are under strain and local government needs to stop dreaming up gimmicky, wasteful non-projects like this and start making real savings.'
Second Life - a virtual world in which users can create bizarre versions of themselves and float around different environments - was predicted to be the next big thing on the Internet.
Tameside Council decided to 'rent' an island to create a computerised town hall featuring links to its website on issues like fly-tipping and bin collection.
Bosses were told it would help them engage with 'hard-to-reach groups', like those with mobility problems, youngsters and people with 'issues surrounding self-esteem'.
However Second Life was overtaken by social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and the council pulled the plug in March, saying it was 'not of a measurable benefit'.
Now the cost has been revealed following a Freedom of Information request, including £3,250 for initial workshops and almost £17,000 to an IT company to develop the 'island'.
It also handed over almost £10,000 to the company for rental and management of the project, £6,000 for a virtual museum and £400 for a statue.
Yesterday the Ashton under Lyne-based council could not say how many people had actually used the virtual Town Hall.
A spokeswoman said: 'While 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.'
According to Second Life bosses, around 75,000 people across the UK use the site monthly.
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