Council chiefs have rejected proposals for Stoke taxpayers' cash to be spent on councillor newsletters.

A review of 'councillor communications' at Stoke-on-Trent City Council had suggested allowing elected members to use part of their ward budgets to fund the printing and distribution of leaflets to residents.

All 44 Stoke-on-Trent councillors get a £5,000 annual budget to spend on initiatives to benefit their wards. The review by the strategy and resources scrutiny committee proposed that up to £500 could be used on newsletters, allowing councillors to keep residents informed of events and activities.

But cabinet members voted to block this proposal, over concerns that it could be seen as a 'misuse of public money'. But the cabinet supported other recommendations aimed at improving communication between the council, ward members and residents.

Councillor Chris Robinson, cabinet member for housing, regeneration and planning, said: "We are unable to support the proposal to allow a portion of ward budgets to be used for newsletters. We understand that this particular proposal was not fully supported by the overview and scrutiny committee. We can see the merits of using newsletters as another tool to keep communities informed, but we cannot support this being funded by ward budgets.

"Concerns have been expressed about the potential for this activity to be perceived as a misuse of public money. We cannot endorse the risk of impartiality being compromised. It is essential that we strive to maintain trust and integrity in our operations. Our view is that this is best achieved by continuing to target our ward budget funding on activities and initiatives that meet community needs."

Concerns were raised that the proposal could be seen as a 'misuse of public money' (Nub News).

Spending a portion of ward budgets on printed literature for residents used to be permitted, but the previous Conservative-led administration banned it in 2020. The scrutiny committee's report stated that any newsletters funded through ward budgets would have to be non-political, but the idea was criticised by opposition Conservative councillors, who said it amounted to public money being used for 'personal promotion'.

Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children's services, believes that residents would not want ward budgets to be spent on newsletters.

She said: "I see our ward budgets as a very precious sum of money for spending in our wards. I'm sure that if I spoke to residents in my ward and asked them if they'd rather have this or something like a new bin, or an activity, I know what they're going to say. I think it's really important that we spend it on actually benefiting our residents directly, and look at other ways of communicating with residents."

Cabinet members did support the committee's recommendation for a 'ward member information charter', which would place a requirement on council departments to proactively provide councillors with certain categories of information relating to their wards, such as roadworks or fly-tipping. The cabinet also supported the proposal to allow all councillors to use the existing blog facility on the council's website, and for backbench councillors to be included in press releases relating to their wards, regardless of party.

---------

READ MORE: 'Extensive search' carried out after shop windows smashed along Tunstall's High Street

Subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter email HERE - just click the 'SIGN UP' button.

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stoke Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our city.

Please consider following Stoke Nub News on Facebook or Twitter.