A NEWSPAPER informing people of council affairs is to be produced.

Durham County councillors have agreed to fund the publication, at a cost of £166,000 a year, to improve the authority's communications with people.

The newspaper will be tabloid-size with photographs, and six issues will be published a year.

A communications officer will be appointed to support its development.

Plans for the publication were drawn up after it was decided that the council's current methods of communicating with residents, through supplements in other newspapers, the County Durham Flier, leaflets, notices and adverts, were not adequate enough.

Last year, it was estimated that they cost the authority £115,000.

It was identified that all but one of the county's district councils had their own newspaper or magazine.

The Durham County Council newspaper will aim to improve people's interest in and develop their understanding of what the council does for them, inform them of council services, promote opportunities to give feedback, and educate people on issues affecting them and the council.

A report by Mark Lloyd, the director of economic development and planning, said: "We want people to see the publication as a cost-effective and sensible use of the council's resources, which responds to their desire that we should improve the quality of our communications with them.

"The publication should say to people that it is useful and will tell them things that they will want or need to know.

"In short, people should see the publication as something which makes life easier."