For all of those who criticised our Council Spending Uncovered paper on publicity spending, take a look at our non-job of the week:
“Publications Editor
£26,067 - £27,584 (pay award pending)
This is your chance to get involved in producing our Council publications.
In our county, effectively communicating and engaging with our residents is crucial. The quarterly Your County publication plays a huge part in this - providing important news updates, advice and features. As the Editor, you can expect real freedom to develop your ideas and take the magazine forward. This will involve liaising with the full range of council departments, sourcing, writing and editing stories and overseeing the full production process. We’ll also look to you to produce other council publications and your expertise will enable you to offer advise [Tim edit: oh dear, oh dear, oh dear] to colleagues. Inspirational and highly motivated, you’ll bring a proven editorial background, exceptional relationship building skills and an ambitious approach. Ref: QO1094.”
Clearly they didn’t edit this ad. Someone better advise East Sussex Council to check over their work in future.
Councils are under an obligation to inform taxpayers of its essential services, letting us know when the pharmacies are open for example. They're not obliged, however, to produce expensive, glossy magazines propagandizing at our expense - they can save that for their party-funded leaflets.
On Monday we challenged councils to reduce their publicity, middle management and pensions by 10% to produce real tax cuts next year. East Sussex Council could start by axing this job and work that bit harder to give us some of our money back.
Feel free to recommend this saving to the leader of East Sussex County Council, Peter Jones, by sending an email [email protected] or drop him a line at the council 01797 226243.