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LONDON councils spent £68million on publicity last year, new figures reveal.
The costs included advertising local authority schemes, recruitment and producing council newspapers or magazines.
The highest-spending council was Newham with £3.896 million. It was one of six local authorities that spent more than £3million on publicity and PR in 2008/09. The others were Camden, Southwark, Ealing, Haringey and Westminster. The total figure is up £3million from £65million in 2007/8 and up £6million from 2006/7.
The statistics were published by the boroughs. A London Councils spokesman said: "Local authorities have a duty to keep their residents informed. The more informed residents are about the hundreds of services provided, the more likely they are to access them."
Reader views (9)
My local loony Liberal authority also operates one of these propaganda sheets telling us month on month how marvellous they are. They even managed to try and spin the millions they wasted on a recycling scheme which fell flat on its face after 6 months and had to be rolled back to its previous incarnation into something they did to save the taxpayer millions (even though if they’d left well enough alone we’d have saved more). Regardless of the controlling party local authorities shouldn't be using taxpayer money to tell us how glorious they are, actions speak far louder than words, so maybe if they stopped braying and got to the job in hand we’d all be better off.
- Bob, Cheam, 24/11/2009 16:24
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The local Newham Magazine is always plastered with photos of local Councillors. In my mind the local council is using the local magazine as election propoganda. It is already a 54 out of 60 Labour majority, so why waste money?. The Newham Magazine contains no useful information. Newham Council also spends vasts amount of advertising in the Newham Recorder, so scandals such as this and many others never get exposed. In Newham we need a multi-party system to get democracy and certain we need to strip the Mayor of Newham of his executive powers.
- Anonymous, Newham, 24/11/2009 14:05
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When the Tories took back Croydon from Labour in 2006, they promised to cut such expenditure. In fact they increased it! Hypocrisy rules, OK.
- C Nichol, London, 24/11/2009 14:01
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I find it quite astounding that the Mayor of Newham finds just under £4million for advertising, and yet after years of his presence, and of Labour in the borough that it STILL remains one of the most deprived boroughs in the country. Newham is an utter disgrace as a result of years of poor leadership, and this shows news ilustrates it perfectly.
- Eastender, London, 24/11/2009 13:16
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The advertising done by councils isn't always there to keep local residents informed. Often it is just done to promote councils. I recently saw a placard tied to a streetlight in Hackney promoting street lighting in the borough.
The two television screens on a pole in Brick Lane are another example of council waste. All they do is say how good Tower Hamlets Council is.
- Richard, London, 24/11/2009 12:47
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Jack,that would be discrimination.In London we need to use all 125 languages so everybody understands by how much they are being ripped-off by this council tax.
- Dave, london, 24/11/2009 12:38
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The Mayor of Newham recently announced £70 Million in "savings" but I doubt very much if the Town Hall propaganda rag, the Newham Mag(usually full of nice colour pics of the Mayor), will be for the chop.
- Mike Law, Newham, 24/11/2009 10:28
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Where does London Councils find these ludicrous spokespeople.
I suppose they would claim what they claim; after all they are the major beneficiaries of this wasted money.
If a poll was taken 90% of residents would demand a cessation to these enormous spends
- Justin Downes, London, 24/11/2009 10:23
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I would have thought that one leaflet dropped through the letterbox with the council tax bill, translated into 50 languages, would do the job.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey, 24/11/2009 09:19
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