Northumberland council name change 'a waste of money'?

Posted by Simon Honeysett on Oct 3, 08 10:23 AM in Councils

COUNCILLORS in Northumberland will next week decide whether to rename their council, amid claims it would waste public money.

Northumberland County Council and the county's six district authorities are to be replaced by a single unitary body on April 1 next year.

The new authority is to be known as Northumberland Council.

But some councillors who will serve on the new body have claimed that the re-branding could cost up to ÃÂ£4m in changes to signs and invoices and repainting vehicles.

That was the figure touted for a change in name of Durham County Council, which has been rejected following public consultation ahead of that county's switch to a unitary structure.

The anti-change councillors in Northumberland say taxpayers will be made to foot the bill and argue the expenditure cannot be justified with the authority already under instruction to save ÃÂ£27m next year.

They are calling for the name change to be abandoned and a motion to that effect is expected to be presented to a full council meeting next Wednesday. Its author, Warkworth independent councillor Jeff Watson, is seeking to drum up cross-party support.

He said last night: "They are talking about changing it to Northumberland Council, and that one word change could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"I just think it is a silly waste of money. People should realise that people on the street will not care if it is Northumberland Council or Northumberland County Council, but for the sake of thousands of pounds, they would care.

"If it is ÃÂ£100,000, it is ÃÂ£100,000 too much. We all know there is going to be difficulties with the budget.

"They are talking about cutting frontline services. It would be far better to cut this than any front line service."

County council leader Jeff Reid last night said it was "simply not the case" that a name change would cost huge amounts of money. He said stock would only be re-branded when it expires or needs to be replaced. Coun Reid said money would be saved by bulk purchasing through one council.

He added that the name change was "important" as keeping the name Northumberland County Council wrongly implied the county council was taking over the district councils.

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