£160,000 branding costs defended

Oldham Council has defended spending more than £160,000 on its new logo and rebranding after criticism from a right wing pressure group.

The Tax Payer’s Alliance said councils should not have wasted thousands in tax-payers cash during tough financial times.

The research across the country showed that 70 local councils spent a staggering £1.66 million on new logos, slogans or “vision statements” in the past three years.

Oldham rebranded more than two years ago.

Carolyn Wilkins, assistant chief executive said: “Oldham Council undertook a rebranding exercise in 2008.

“The Local Government Association Reputation Campaign clearly states that a council brand should be consistently linked to the services that it provides.

“Since the formation of Oldham Council in 1974 many sub-brands and logos had been created for council departments and initiatives which weakened the link between the Council and the services it delivers.

“The rebrand was also adopted by a range of partners in the borough to achieve a “One Oldham” approach for the public sector.

“This has helped people to understand exactly what services that they receive and pay for and what organisations are responsible for them.

“In 2008 Oldham Council paid Hemisphere Design and Marketing Consultancy £146,370.75 for all rebranding work that was launched in April, 2008.

“During 2009/2010 Oldham Council paid Hemisphere a further £14,799 for additional design work.

“The rebranding has been implemented on a staged basis as old vehicles, uniforms and other items have needed replacing. There are no further costs anticipated of the re-branding project.”

The figures, obtained after Freedom of Information requests, emerged as councils across the country are expected to axe up to 140,000 jobs due to spending cuts.

Emma Boon, campaign director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This level of spending on logos shows shocking vanity by these councils, they should be focusing on frontline services and helping ordinary families by keeping council tax down, not giving themselves makeovers.

“Even when councils have merged it is possible to keep costs down by introducing new branding on a rolling basis, there is no justification for these costly image overhauls.”