The Liberal Democrats have been counting the volume of press propaganda put out by the Tory controlled county council and said: ‘Enough!’

Lib Dem Leader Chris White said today: ‘The week before last there was a day on which the county council issued 13 press releases. Last week saw a day when it issued 11 press releases plus three bulletins.

‘At a time when the Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles is calling for councils to stop advertising “useless jobs” it is staggering that the county council continues to deploy its staff on producing this unending stream of comment.

‘Last week we learned about a new map, about a £500 grant for cricket, about road resurfacing and about a burst water main. Most of these “news” snippets are sent out as full blown press releases, complete with a political comment from a Tory councillor, which local newspapers are expected to print.

‘The idea of having a decent website and just posting up a bulletin without taking the opportunity for a bit of political spin seems to escape them. Nor should the new county councillor locality budgets be used as a means of raising the profile of county councillors – effective local politicians are already well enough known without a leg up from the county communications unit. .

‘The council will shortly have to review its budget in the light of the Labour Government’s spending errors. We will be putting the propaganda budget as the high up the list of savings.’

ENDS