Council's £85,000 spin doctor (From Daily Echo)

Council's £85,000 spin doctor

12:31pm Thursday 30th July 2009 in

By Matt Smith » Politics and business reporter

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IT is facing a £17.3m black hole in its budget in the next two years, and has just made a second raft of savings and jobs cuts.

Now the cash-strapped council that is having to sell off its artwork to pay for a Titanic museum has decided to splash out £85,000 on a spin doctor to polish its image.

Southampton City Council is hunting for a high-powered communications director to spread the word about the city’s success.

The brand new role, which is will be paid £20,000 more than a basic MP’s salary, will enjoy a seat at the council’s top table with full control to craft its “message”.

The move comes after Tory council leaders agreed to spend £100,000 hiring managing consultants from Westminster City Council for a year to come up with ways to boost the council’s image after chief executive Brad Roynon claimed its own media team were not doing a good enough job. They are now helping the council to hire a PR guru.

But Matthew Elliott, chief executive at public spending watchdog TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The last thing taxpayers want is another overpaid communications executive.

“Distributing essential public information is one thing, but the average council in Britain is spending £1m on communication every year, and many councils employ more spin doctors than bin men.

“People want efficient, value-for-money public services, not more snazzy marketing and pointless propaganda from their councils.”

Mike Tucker, secretary of council’s branch of the union Unison, said: “The Conservatives are being hypocritical because they always talked about reducing the communications function when in opposition and directing resources on frontline staff.

“Now they’re in control they want to strengthen it to present their message better.

“We cannot see why a more senior manager is needed.”

In creating a new communications director, the role of head of communications, currently held by Liz Kite, will be scrapped.

She could apply for the new post, which is understood to attract £20,000 to £30,000 more than her current salary. She declined to comment.

The council's new spin doctor is the first step in an image makeover following a critical report by consultants hired by Tory leaders to revamp their PR machine.

The team was led by Alex Aiken, former head of news for the Conservative Party and John Major's head of campaigns.

Their report, which cost £30,000 alone, found an "urgent need for quite radical change".

They claimed the council's communications were of "bronze" standard and running at only 40 per cent of capacity.

The report recommended the council works to "a coherent story and clear communications plan, developing pro-active campaigns and by the better use of existing resources."

It found there were "fractious relationships" and a "lack of trust and respect" between the council's communications team and some other departments, who had taken doing their own PR.

Residents told the consultants that the Tory priorities for the council had "little resonance" with them and simply described "what the council should be doing anyway".

A third of the 500 quizzed said they didn't think the council provided value for money And a survey of "council partners" also found a desire by the council to cling to past iconic issues such as the Spitfire and Titanic.

Quizzed by councillors chief executive Brad Roynon reassured councillors the council would not be "cutting adrift from the past" but "making sure the past was relevant to the future" and that the council was "not wallowing in some pathetic nostalgia".

The council was found to be too reactive to local media and will try pump out more positive stories, particularly for trade and national media.

Despite the criticisms of their priorities Conservative councillors approved the consultants' recommendations.

They include centralising the council's communications teams and expanding staff numbers from 22 to 26, pushing up the wage bill up £90,000 to £745,000.

Mr Roynon stressed "rationalisation of activities and spend" across the council would reduce the total communications costs, including ten copies of the council's City View magazine, to £870,000 - a saving of £100,000.

Comments(49)

Lone Ranger says...
12:44pm Thu 30 Jul 09

What a DISGRACE

Save money taking on the Stormtroopers, sell the art collection,close care homes,cut services and axe jobs then blow it on SPIN DOCTORS

TORY COUNCIL YOU ARE A DISGRACE

They will destroy this city even more than they have done already at this rate.

These are decisions made by prospective parliamentary candidates.

God help us all if they ever reach a level greater than pen pushers.

Even the most Blue of Tory supporters will have trouble justifying this.