Richmondshire District Council axes The Curlew (From The Northern Echo)

Richmondshire District Council axes The Curlew

8:14am Thursday 25th February 2010 in

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THE axe has fallen on the first publicly-funded council newspaper in the region in the face of growing criticism.

The Curlew, a twice-yearly newspaper produced by Richmondshire District Council in North Yorkshire, fell victim to the recession as councillors branded it an unaffordable luxury.

The loss of the paper will save the council £11,500 a year in printing and delivery costs, with the expected savings in staff hours still to be worked out.

The Curlew is the first of the heavily-criticised publiclyfunded council newspapers to be abolished in North Yorkshire and the North-East, although elsewhere, Cornwall County Council has already saved £700,000 by axing its inhouse newspaper.

Senior Tory ministers have also criticised the newspapers as going beyond council remits, while many have criticised them as propaganda machines.

The decision to get rid of The Curlew was made unanimously at a full meeting of Richmondshire District Council on Tuesday night, with little debate for or against the paper before the vote.

Conservative council leader Fleur Butler said: “The Curlew was seen as a luxury we can’t really afford any more.

“We need to communicate and talk to people in the district, but there was no proof that anyone was reading it.

“When you start looking at savings you look at what is effective and what is not working and it was felt that we need a better way than just putting it in a generic spreadsheet.”

Councillor Stuart Parsons, a Liberal Democrat, who originally proposed The Curlew’s abolition, said: “The lack of debate about getting rid of The Curlew says it all. It was a pointless exercise and a waste of time, energy, paper and, unfortunately, taxpayers’ money.”

Councillors have speculated that North Yorkshire County Council will soon follow by abolishing its publiclyfunded newspaper the NY Times, which costs £500,000 a year to produce.

However, a county council spokeswoman said there were no plans to discontinue the paper and that doing so would not result in savings and would prevent the council providing residents with information.