Tom FitzPatrick, leader of North Norfolk District Council.
North Norfolk’s Outlook magazine set for axe in latest budget
Monday, January 28, 2013
3:08 PM
A long-standing magazine that lets every resident of north Norfolk know what its council is doing is set to be scrapped from April.
Outlook, which is posted once every three months to every household, is recommended for the axe as part of the 2013/14 North Norfolk District Council budget, to be considered by its cabinet on February 4.
A report to the meeting says the move would save £26,000 per year. A council spokesman said there would be a “change of focus”, adding: “It’s no longer good enough just putting information out there and hoping that it will stick.”
He said the council would be looking into getting information out more often via the local media, and looking into social media like Twitter.
The likely decision is part of £163,000 of savings flagged up in the £12m budget, as NNDC tries to save £1.2m over the next two years because of decreased government funding.
Council leader Tom FitzPatrick said the sum had been reduced by £150,000 of income from additional investments, and said further savings could be on the horizon.
They included the potential reduction in costs from a group buying of recycling services from the waste centre at Costessey. Norfolk County Council and the county’s districts current have individual contracts, but Mr FitzPatrick hoped there would be “economies of scale” when they combined under a single contract.
He added that the council would soon be consulting electors about how they wanted their money spent, and whether council tax - which will remain at the same level for a third year - should be frozen, or increased to pay for extra.
The NNDC share of Band D council tax bills will continue to be £138.87.
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20 comments
It was a waste of money, just a PR exercise that put a gloss on what they did. What we need is real transparency, not this in-house magazine, like how much is being spent of our council money on unfunded pensions, or what is the reason we get saddled with useless land usage schemes. Let's have an open democracy, not fancy puffs from the council
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weaversway
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
We won't know all the council news? What a disaster. What we DO know, "eye of providence," is that the council has a job to do. If it does it, fine. If it does not then it should be held accountable. Is "Outlook" an impartial instrument of accountability? Is it a forum for debate? Do us a favour! Do the words "one sided" spring to mind? All "Outlook" does is try to boost the council's smug, self importance. There are much more important things to spend the money on.
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Drmjp
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
We won't know all the council news? What a disaster. What we DO know, "eye of providence," is that the council has a job to do. If it does it, fine. If it does not then it should be held accountable. Is "Outlook" an impartial instrument of accountability? Is it a forum for debate? Do us a favour! Do the words "one sided" spring to mind? All "Outlook" does is try to boost the council's smug, self importance. There are much more important things to spend the money on.
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Drmjp
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Eye of Providence - "So, we ditch the magazine and then none of you have a clue what the council does" - no change there then.
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Mylen1um
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
So, we ditch the magazine and then none of you have a clue what the council does, or what things are happening in the community. You selfish lot. Once that happens you will all be here complaining. Sometimes real life takes precedence. Just because the news isn't sensational, it doesn't make it uninteresting. It's actually really important. You all need to think more carefully, and more widely before commenting on this.
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Eye of Providence
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
So eye of providence what is your interest in this? Your nose seems to be out of joint. I have read these ridiculous mags and they dont tell me anything about the council that I dont know already and just annoy me with pictures of councillors that I would really rather are out of a job. Get rid of the lot of them and if you are losing out then tough.
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alecto
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
So, we ditch the magazine and then none of you have a clue what the council does, or what things are happening in the community. You selfish lot. Once that happens you will all be here complaining. Sometimes real life takes precedence. Just because the news isn't sensational, it doesn't make it uninteresting. It's actually really important. You all need to think more carefully, and more widely before commenting on this.
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Eye of Providence
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Other councils should follow suit and stop producing uninteresting bumph for the green bin which wastes our council tax.
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beverley
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
A fine city > thanks for the tip, but I use the web pretty well already. My point is that all people should know what is going on and how their money is spent. If you think putting a load of posts and tweets on corporate social media sites will achieve that then you are very naive and selfish. My concern is that none of you seem to care what is happening out there. Why not?
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Eye of Providence
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
A total waste of time & money that 99% of the population ignore. Getting rid of it is the only logical decision.
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Mylen1um
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Most of them went straight in the recycling bin, just making more work for the council. There may be a few people who will miss it, but I think the saving justifies itself.
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julygirl
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
A fine city > thanks for the tip, but I use the web pretty well already. My point is that all people should know what is going on and how their money is spent. If you think putting a load of posts and tweets on corporate social media sites will achieve that then you are very naive and selfish.
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Eye of Providence
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Glad this kind of vanity publishing is biting the dust. Get news and info from the website. Eye of Providence should get with the digital revolution. There's this thing called the internet. Give it a go. People who aren't interested won't read 'outlook' anyway so you are deluded if you think it is widely read now. If you're going to cut something, then this is a no brainer.
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a fine city
Monday, January 28, 2013
Electra > have you conducted market research which has concludes that 'no-one' reads the quarterly (or less in the case of Outlook) information magazines? If people don't want to read Outlook, fine, but consider a world where you know absolutely nothing about what your Council does, yet still pay for it. Is that what you would prefer? Isn't that how things like expenses scandals come about? No offence, but your preference to ignore important events happening in the community where you live in favour of mindless tripe of Vogues latest fashion news, trends, catwalk photos & designers just shows what type of person you are. And for every one of you, there are tens of people who work hard for their community, recognise the good work their Council does, and want to be informed about what is going on.
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Eye of Providence
Monday, January 28, 2013
Hooray. At last someone has stopped these ridiculous magazines which no-one reads and not even everyone uses to line the bottom of their chicken coops. Can I suggest that South Norfolk and the County Council who still produce this rubbish provide me with a subscription to Vogue instead. That I will read.
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Electra
Monday, January 28, 2013
Amazingly, North Norfolk District Council hashad £450,000 to offer to the community for 201213 as part of the Big Society Fund. Ironically, much of the good work undertaken by the fund is fed back via Outlook. So, our 'Big Society' means doing stuff and telling absolutely nobody about it. Is it just me or does this contradict the aims? The Council has no Facebook page, no Twitter site from what i can see? How will people who do not use the web access information about the services that you provide for us? You also have to ask yourself the question - WHY would people with little time go to the trouble of logging on and purposely going to flick through Council news on a social media website? They won't - you have to get the information to them and Outlook has achieved this perfectly well for as long as I have lived in North Norfolk. This is not simply a cost saving exercise and you should be ashamed for denying residents access to this very useful and important information about services WHICH WE PAY FOR!
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Eye of Providence
Monday, January 28, 2013
Yes it will be missed. The council does a lot of good work and this is the only method of reaching the community. I enjoy reading it and so do my neighbours. You can bea miserable cynic and put it down,... many throw it in the bin, but that is your choice and you cannot complain about lack of information. From what I hear the council has introduced advertising and the cost is hardly a consideration. This is Eric pickles scared about what propaganda is being fed to local people in local communities. He should be worried!
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Eye of Providence
Monday, January 28, 2013
At least it one less stuff for my green bin !
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pink lady
Monday, January 28, 2013
Will "Outlook" be missed? Hardly. If ever there was a council's exercise in smug self-congratulation, this was it
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Drmjp
Monday, January 28, 2013
Will "Outlook" be missed? Hardly. If ever there was a council's exercise in smug self-congratulation, this was it
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Drmjp
Monday, January 28, 2013