A TAXPAYER funded newspaper that tells residents about ‘all the great things’ Herefordshire Council does, is not a propaganda sheet according to its leader.

Conservative council leader Jonathan Lester defended chief executive Alistair Neill’s recent decision to publish the quarterly publication.

The council has spent £499 on the first edition of Herefordshire Now and has made 5,000 copies available for free at county libraries and council offices – it is also online.

Speaking at last week’s full council meeting, Liberal Democrat group leader Terry James said the publication contained ‘pleasant pictures of cabinet members’ and asked what its total cost, including officer time, was.

He also asked: “Does the leader recall the then Conservative minister Eric Pickles actually told local authorities, on behalf of the government, to stop publishing propaganda sheets at the expense of the taxpayer?”

In 2014, Lord Pickles described such newsletters as ‘Town Hall Pravdas’, a reference to political newspapers associated with the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union.

Councillor Lester did not know the total cost but said the publication contained ‘very important’ information about council affairs.

“What you have to bear in mind is that officers are producing this information and these reports on how the council is undertaking its business all of the time,” he said.

“It is a relatively simple exercise in pooling together all of these good news stories and very important information about what the council does do.

“It’s absolutely essential that members of the public and councillors are aware of all of the great things that are happening.

“I don’t see that as propaganda, I see that as the proper way of a council communicating with its residents.”

It’s Our County co-leader Liz Harvey said the new paper was a ‘zombie’ version of the previous council magazine Herefordshire Matters and that it contained inaccuracies.

“As an example of inaccurate information, on the page where there are articles about the proposed bypass it does talk about reducing congestion in the city,” she said.

“None of the studies have been able to assure the council there will be a reduction of congestion in the city because of the additional housing that will come forward as a result of the road being built.

“So, if we are going to inform our residents, let’s be truthful.”