Five months on from the publication of the Ten Per Cent Challenge, our detailed council-by-council proposals for how to cut council tax, there are encouraging signs that the publication has got into the internal discussions going on in Town Halls worried about their growing unpopularity.
In Friday's PR Week, the PR industry's in-house magazine, there was an interesting article by Alex Aiken, Director of Comms at Westminster City Council. Local Government PR teams are obviously getting worried that they may be for the high jump in spending reviews - a concern heightened by the news that Boris Johnson is slashing his PR spending by 20%.
Aiken offers some tips to PR Week's readers on how they and their departments can weather the "credit crunch challenge". Pursuing campaigns that are popular with the public, improving organisational efficiency and recycling the avalanche of glossy are all tips that you would expect to be on the list, but one of them stands out as an encouraging sign:
Second, try the 'ten per cent test'. Take advice from the Taxpayers Alliance and reduce spending - or raise income by ten per cent.
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Second, try the 'ten per cent test'. Take advice from the Taxpayers Alliance and reduce spending - or raise income by ten per cent.
Good on you, Mr Aiken! When he suggests raising income by ten per cent, it should be noted that if you do this through extended advertising income for any council publications - as Hammersmith & Fulham have done - it allows you to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
Hopefully we will see improvements in Westminster's accounts next year as a result and other councils will follow their lead. This is a good sign that the Council Spending Uncovered papers had a genuine impact in Town Halls - which can only be to the benefit of taxpayers.