SURREY County Council has spent nearly £7 million on self-promotion in the last five years.
The information, which was released to the Mirror following a Freedom of Information request, reveals the council has spent £6,924,732.55 since 2008 on publicity including newsletters, websites, and leaflets.
According to the figures, the most the council has spent in a single financial year was £1,764,142.69 this year, although the final figures are yet to be released. In 2008/09 council publicity cost the taxpayer £1,447,163.45. This figure then dropped for three successive years to £1,344,627.95 in 2009/10; £1,260,345.22 in 2010/11; and £1,108,453.24 in 2011/12 before rising again.
According to the council, the money is used in most cases on public information campaigns. It is also claimed that some of the costs were met by grants, specifically during the Olympic months, although details of these and who they were issued by have not been disclosed.
A separate request to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council has revealed the authority's main newsletter, Borough News, has cost the taxpayer £229,178 to produce in the last five years.
The magazine, which is delivered to 57,000 homes three times a year, costs £7,500 to design and print per issue and £6,000 to distribute.
Alongside this main publication, the borough council also distributes three newsletters in Redhill, Merstham and Horley.
It recently cost the taxpayer £2,400 to design, print and distribute 11,000 copies of The Thrive to homes in Redhill. In Merstham, the local newsletter has cost about £1,200 to design, print and distribute, and in Horley the Newleaf newsletter has been produced for close to £2,000.
Councils have been forced to follow strict rules on publicity after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles imposed new codes of conduct on council PR. Under the rules, councils cannot publish their own newspaper more than four times a year, and the material should avoid anything "likely" to be understood as a political statement and commentary.
Reigate and Banstead borough council spokeswoman Hannah Blackburn said: "The Borough News magazine is delivered to every household in the borough and is the main way the council keeps residents informed about our services and those of our partners. "Recent research undertaken about awareness of our new recycling and waste services indicated that Borough News is a key communication channel for keeping our residents informed. "In the past year we have gone down from four to three issues of the printed version to reduce spend and have launched an electronic version. "We are aiming to increase subscribers to our Borough e-News so that we can further reduce the number of issues of the printed publication." Surrey County Council refused to comment.Surrey County Council's five-year spend on publicity material and PR: 2008-09: £1,447,163.45 2009-10: £1,344,627.95 2010-11: £1,260,345.22 2011-12: £1,108,453.24 2012 to present date: £1,764,142.69 TOTAL: £6,924,732.55 The cost of producing and distributing Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's Borough News over the past five years: 2008/2009: £53,321 2009/2010: £57,158 2010/2011: £55,624 2011/2012: £28,690* 2012/to date: £34,385 TOTAL: £229,178 * only two issues published
