Agenda item

Two valid questions on notice have been received for a response at this meeting.

1.     Question to the Elected Mayor by Councillor L Bones

Can the mayor please explain whether or not she thinks spending over £26,000 on a new Council logo is a good use of taxpayers money?

The Elected Mayor responded as follows:

I can assure Council that £26k has not been spent on a new council logo.

As part of our comprehensive programme to improve customer service we have invested in a range of changes to our external communications to meet digital accessibility standards and to improve consistency. This will also enable our residents to better recognise Council services through a consistent approach.

This has included designs for improvements to our website, leaflets, posters other external communications and the development of a fully digital version of our current council logo.

I am pleased to be able to report that this investment was able to be made using the extra revenue generated through the sale of advertising space across the borough. 

Investing in this way ensures that we can improve our full range of communications to our customers and deliver a better service for our residents. 

Again, £26k has not been spent on a new council logo alone as suggested by Councillor Bones.

Councillor L Bones asked the following supplementary question:

A recent Freedom of Information request confirmed that £26K was spent on the new logo so the Elected Mayor’s response is misleading to members of the public and this chamber.  The £26K spent on the logo comes after spending £50k on an advertising campaign to promote climate change.  This is despite the Mayor having a communications team of approximately 10 people which costs over £500k to this authority.  Why doesn’t the Mayor have confidence in her communications team to put together these campaigns and logos – why is she spending tens of thousands of pounds going to external companies?

The Elected Mayor responded as follows:

The question from Councillor Bones was ‘can the mayor please explain whether or not she thinks spending over £26,000 on a new Council logo is a good use of taxpayers money?’.  I explained how the money was spent and what it was spent on.  Contrary to what has been said and been published I will repeat that this Council has not spent £26K on a new logo.

2.     Question to the Elected mayor by Councillor M Thirlaway

Will the Elected Mayor explain what impact the Government’s decision not to award Levelling up funding will have on the Wallsend Masterplan and the North Shields Masterplan?

Councillor C Johnson responded as follows:

We were obviously very disappointed with the Government’s response to the Levelling Up Fund bids as there were strong cases for investment in Wallsend and North Shields Fish Quay, which would have supported some of our most deprived communities.

Without securing this funding, Nexus and the Council will need to identify alternative funding to replace the North Shields Ferry landing which is in need of replacement by 2025.

For Wallsend, we are still committed to delivering on our ambitions; creating a town that our residents and businesses can be proud to call home, and that visitors from all over want to come and enjoy.

We know what a positive difference our investment has made in other parts of the borough, and how much the regeneration of Wallsend means to our local residents and businesses – so we will continue to explore avenues to secure the funding we need to make these plans a reality.  A bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund was submitted in February to support our proposals for Segedunum and how we can maximise its potential as a visitor attraction.

Almost £2m of grant funding for Wallsend town centre has already been secured from the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s Town and High Streets Innovation Programme to help us fund events, support for businesses, shop front grants and improved walking and cycling routes in Wallsend. We are now developing these initiatives and will shortly be launching the shop front grants scheme for businesses in the town centre.

We have also completed our engagement on the draft Wallsend Masterplan, the feedback is now being assessed and a report seeking approval of the final Masterplan is due to be considered by Cabinet in May.

Councillor M Thirlaway asked the following supplementary question:

Even without the Levelling Up funding is North Tyneside Council still committed to the regeneration of Wallsend and North Shields.

Councillor C Johnson responded as follows:

A disgraceful decision from the government that has got worse since.  The Levelling Up department has a £2.5 billion underspend but couldn’t find £4 million to give to North Tyneside. 

Absolutely we are very nearly there on North Shields with various different projects that are progressing as we speak.  We are still committed to moving the ferry landing to Western Quay.

We are also completely committed to delivering the Wallsend Masterplan.  This is not the first time we have been knocked back by this government and I’m sure it won’t be the last, but hopefully there will be a Labour government soon.  But we will ensure we deliver the Wallsend Masterplan in full.