Oldham Council forked out £1.2m on publicity

OLDHAM council spent more than £1.2 million on publicity last year — slashing its spending by more than a quarter of a million pounds.

Figures collated by pressure group the Taxpayers’ Alliance show town halls up and down the country spent an average of £935,986 on running press offices, promoting services, and advertising for jobs.

But Oldham Council chiefs spent £1.28 million in 2007/08, down from £1.55 million the previous 12 months — a saving of £268,000. Across the country, the total bill came to £430 million.

Oldham Council leader Howard Sykes said: “Bolton, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport and Wigan all spend more than Oldham.

“I am sure our current costs will continue to be reduced as we become leaner and more efficient.”

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said in the middle of a recession, councils needed to cut back on “propaganda and spin doctors and deliver savings to taxpayers.”

However, the Local Government Association said it was absurd to suggest local authorities were wasting money on armies of spin doctors. “People need to know how to access the £100 billion worth of vital services that councils provide every year,” he said.

“Lumped into advertising figures are statutory notices that councils by law have to advertise for, such as job adverts or site notices for planning applications.”

Under accounting rules for town halls, publicity is defined as “any communication, in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or to a section of the public”.