18 September 2009
Source: LocalGov.co.uk ()

Council communications costs up as advertising drops


Arun Marsh

The cost of running Tower Hamlets LBC's communications department has gone up by nearly £400k as the recession hits advertising funds on the council newspaper.

A budget report revealed the shortfall at a meeting last week when the council agreed to bail out the East End Life publication with savings across the department.

The move infuriated opposition Tory members, who have been calling for the freesheet to be scrapped and also the editor of the East London Advertiser, Malcolm Starbrook.

He told Journalism website holdthefrontpage.co.uk that the bail out 'made a mockery' of the councils claim that the 'propaganda sheet' runs on an almost break even budget.

'In the past the council has stated that each copy costs every Tower Hamlets tax payer a mere 2p: we know that is wrong.

'Our figures show that at best the cost is 25p per reader and comes out of the council taxes of one of London's most under-privileged communities. The council has recently raised its distribution levels and now finds its ad budget is tumbling. The individual cost per copy is rising at the same time.

'When the town hall's budgets are being squeezed in education, health and social services, the financial lifeline thrown to East End Life, which exists purely to promote a one-party political agenda, is appalling.'

Tory councillor Tim Archer put forward an alternative budget earlier this year suggesting the council could save £670,000 or 1pc off the average council tax, by scrapping the paper and taking out advertising with lcoal papers instead.

The council's deputy leader Joshua Peck said the figures were a worst case senario and denied the cost of the newspaper to residents had gone up.

'The £396,000 overspend relates in fact to the entire communications budget at Tower Hamlets - and is a mid-year projection of where we would be at year end if no action were taken. In fact, we constantly keep budgets under review and have already brought the projected overspend down to £277,000 and fully expect it to be within budget by year end. It's tight budget management like this that allows Tower Hamlets to have the seventh lowest council tax in the country.
 
'Local and regional newspapers are most definitely struggling but to continually claim that it is council freesheets - which do a totally different job to independent newspapers - that are killing them off is a red herring and prevents a proper exploration of the issues.'



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