£345,000 cost of civic newspaper

Oldham Council spent the fifth highest amount in the country on its civic newspapers according to a new survey for a Sunday newspaper.

The tally, which covers the past three years when Labour then the Liberal Democrats were in control, means the authority spent £345,000 on its publications, previously called The Oldhamer, now called One, and published quarterly.

The spending was revealed after the Sunday Times made a Freedom of Information request to councils across the country.

It follows the promise by the new Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles to tighten up on “town hall Pravdas” by beefing up the rules on council publications.

There have been complaints that by competing with local paid for papers, and attracting paid advertising, they threaten the local press.

Oldham’s newspaper was defended by council leader Howard Sykes, who said: “In total we spend just over £1 per household per year keeping residents informed about the 800 services the council provides, whether it is by providing a number to call to report nuisance neighbours, or offering information on how people out of work can access training opportunities.

“We need to keep residents fully informed about the services on offer where they live. For example our campaign for youth activities - Passport to Summer - resulted in a 27 per cent drop in anti-social behaviour complaints.

“Ultimately, it’s fundamentally unhealthy in a modern democracy for people not to know what their council tax is being spent on.

“We don’t take private-sector advertising in One magazine because it would compete with local newspapers for income and we also steer publicity spending towards local radio stations such as 96.2 The Revolution and newspapers like the Chronicle.”