Concerns have been raised about whether paying £45,000 for a Roman cavalry re-enactment in Carlisle represents value for money.

Paul Nedved, Carlisle city councillor and chairman of the authority’s environment and economy overview and scrutiny panel, has called in the council leader’s decision to fund the Hadrian’s Cavalry event.

At Thursday’s meeting of the scrutiny panel, Mr Nedved and others will ask council leader Colin Glover to justify the council’s decision to pay £45,000 towards the event.

Celebrating 1,900 years since Hadrian became the ruler of the Roman Empire, Hadrian’s Cavalry is a programme of events that will run from April to September. The programme explores the role and daily life of the Roman army’s cavalry forces in an exhibition that stretches the full 150 miles of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site area – from Maryport in the west to South Shields in the east.

The highlight of the re-enactment programme is a two-day Turma show in Bitts Park, Carlisle, on Saturday and Sunday, July 1 and 2.

The Turma show will bring a 30-strong troop of Roman cavalrymen together for the first time in 2,000 years to perform training exercises described by Hadrian himself.

The main funder of Hadrian’s Cavalry is the Arts Council England’s Museum Resilience Fund.

As part of the event, Tullie House is hosting one of the largest exhibitions planned along the wall route between April and September 2017. It will include decorated plate armour, helmets and other artifacts, some of which have never been on display before.

Mr Nedved said: “We all for the promotion and generating income for the city and developing the tourist potential of the city. My issue is the costs – £38,000 for this year, which is quite a considerable sum, and £7,000 for next year.”

Mr Nedved added that, in his opinion because the sum of money was so great, the decision should have gone before the executive to be debated and discussed. He is also concerned the Turma won’t provide value for the money.

He said: “The event itself has to be well costed out and has to be seen by the public to be value for money.”

But Mr Glover has defended the decision to fund the Turma, saying it was a highlight of the Hadrian’s Cavalry programme that would bring the city international attention and “really put the city on the map”.

Mr Glover said: “I just find it very sad that Mr Nedved doesn’t appear to be committed to Turma or supporting Tullie House or Hadrian’s Wall.”