The attraction in Hanley was to have opened for six weeks over Christmas last year, but it closed early when the firm running it went into liquidation.

An inquiry says not enough time remained to deliver the scheme and more checks should have been carried out on the company, Aria Direct.

The city council says it needs to learn from its mistakes.

It emerged in January that Aria Direct applied to go into administration on 16 December, five days before it closed the attraction in Old Hall Street.

The rink opened on 5 December and was supposed to have been in place for six weeks.

But the attraction closed on 21 December and, apart from a short spell three days later, never opened its doors to skaters again.

The exact cost of the ice rink came to �67,709.50

Aria Direct officially ceased trading on 24 December with losses of �120,000 up to March 2002.

An inquiry launched in January was carried out in secret.

The city council's legal team said because it was owed money, it needed to keep commercial information out of the public domain.

The inquiry report says action taken by council officers meant some of the lost money was recouped.