Monday 27 April 2009

Council Publicity Criticised

Plaid Councillors in Carmarthenshire have again attacked the county council for publishing its own newspaper in the county. The latest edition was circulated in the period leading up to Easter, but according to Plaid, it is little more than propaganda on behalf of the ruling groups.

Cllr Dyfrig Thomas, Plaid's deputy group leader, said, "One of the reasons given previously by the council for publishing this newsletter was that it was a cheap way of advertising jobs with the council. The latest issue contains just one job advertisement, albeit for two separate jobs, and it is ludicrous to suggest that publishing a 36 page newspaper is a cost-effective way of advertising two jobs! In addition, the centrefold list of members of the county council is so riddled with errors as to be almost useless to the public. It seems that those responsible for producing the publication don't know what some of the councillors look like, don't know the names of others, and aren't even certain which wards councillors represent!"

Cllr Thomas also attacked the statements made in the paper about the way the council is governed, saying, "Anyone reading the article concerned would be left with the impression that the council as a whole is responsible for decision-making. Nothing could be further from the truth - the reality is that only the ten members of the Executive Board have any real say on council decisions.

"Finally," added Cllr Thomas, "the newspaper, which was distributed just prior to the Easter Bank Holiday, doesn't even give details of the council's waste collection programme over the bank holiday period. That's one piece of information which might really be useful to residents, but it isn't even mentioned. I can only repeat what we as a group have said before - the council schould scrap this propaganda sheet, and use the money saved more productively."

2 comments:

Adam S. Margetts Esq.BA said...

Indeed! Maybe they should use the money they spent on the publication and re-invest it into a Community Interest Company, that way they can define what benefit the funds must be used for.

In my case...A community Recycling company, I can take there surplus computers and ICT equipment and train people to rebuild, reprogram and repair the machines to be sold at low cost within the community.

This internalises a waste stream and provides, education and skill building for local people. Oh! and it also benefits the local economy!

theARCproject is designed for Sustainable Waste Management, locally.

http://thearcproject.co.cc
(sorry for the blatent advert!)

Regards,
adam.margetts@thearcproject.co.cc

caebrwyn said...

This is an appalling piece of propaganda and wast of money which I am sure remains largely unread, only adding to the problems of waste. I hear that, in the interests of 'starting them young' a 'youth' version is in the pipeline, as a mother of four 'youths' I can guarantee it will be another complete waste of money.