COUNCILS have come under fire for the amount of money they spend on advertising.

Figures just released show Blackburn with Darwen council spent more than £2 million on publicity this year, compared to less than £500,000 10 years ago.

And the amount spent at Burnley council - £318,802 - was a massive 569 per cent up on 1996/1997.

But the group that has released the figures, campaign group the Taxpayers' Alliance, has come under fire from local government chiefs, who claim publicity is vital to help councils stay in touch with residents.

A Taxpayers' Alliance report claims town halls across the country spend £450 million a year on publicity.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive, said the figures were "extremely disappointing", and claimed the growth of the internet should help keep communication costs down.

He said: "It's important for council taxpayers to see just how their hard-earned money is being spent by town halls."

Graham Burgess, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen council, said spending had gone up because the council provided far more services and had employed 7,000 more staff since it became independent from Lancashire County Council in 1997.

He said £800,000 of the £2 million total was spent on customer services including advice about benefits and bin collections.

Another £510,000 was spent on recruiting the 7,000 staff, he said.

He added: "We have looked at this and as a result have streamlined our policy on recruitment advertising.

"As a result we would expect to see savings in this area in the future."

A Burnley Council spokesman said a task force recommended the council improved its communications after the riots in 2001.

Burnley spent a third of the national average, and the figure was set to go down by £55,000 following a review, he added.

And a spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what services they get for their tax.

"People would be furious if they had no idea of what services their cash was paying for and how they could get to use them."

Lancashire County Council was singled out for praise in the report.

Despite spending nearly £3.5 million on publicity, this was less than a decade ago and was comparatively low given the amount of people it represents.

AMOUNT SPENT ON PUBLICITY

  • Council 1996/97 2006/07
  • Blackburn with Darwen 446,381 2,076,000
  • Burnley 47,627 318,802
  • Hyndburn 63,306 57,614
  • Lancashire 3,557,000 3,451,000
  • Pendle 112,844 170,000
  • Ribble Valley 50,590 100,023