CONCERNS have been raised over ‘cash-strapped’ Cotswold District Council’s decision to spend £20,000 on a “light touch” rebrand which includes “changing the colour of its logo”.

The authority is undertaking a review of its branding which focuses on updating its style guidelines due to a lack of consistency.

Liberal Democrat leaders say the refresh to the council’s logo was to ensure it is more scalable and effective in digital formats.

And that the council’s existing style guide was outdated, unclear, and inconsistently applied.

The costs incurred to date is around £20,000 and this includes a refresh of external internal and external signage that would have been updated anyway, council chiefs say.

However, this bill could rise further as the council works through “all the relevant items to update”.

But they say the rebrand will not amount to an extra cost to the taxpayer as it is being funded using an expected underspend on the Trinity Road offices.

Cotswold District Council has spent £20,000 on a “light touch” rebrand 

Councillor Daryl Corps (C, Moreton West) thanked Council Leader Joe Harris (LD, St Michael’s) for his response to his question over the rebrand at the full council meeting on November 27 which confirmed it was just a “light touch” and not an extensive brand refresh.

“I don’t want to waste any time or money on this, because enough has been spent already,” he said.

“But I did want to ask you about what you said about the value in this.

“You basically spent £20,000 changing the colour of the council’s logo. Is that correct?”

Cllr Harris said that was not correct and that the council have an “insourcing of their staff”.

“It’s fair to say the council’s style guides, branding and everything associated with it was a shambolic mess that needed sorting out,” he said.

“I’m not going to take lectures from the Conservatives on rebranding when Conservative run Wiltshire Council spent £500,000 on theirs.

“Actually, I think our light touch refresh is good value for money.

"It has been done as part of a budget item which covers the transition as a whole and we will monitor that progress with an announcement that could happen within the next few days about to the extent of which we roll that out.

“But no, in terms of being an employer of choice, it is important we have accurate, clear and professional branding.”

Cllr Corps said he had spent 25 years doing rebranding and if he had been asked he would have done it for free.

Cllr Harris said that would be totally inappropriate and a breach of standards.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Corps said to “waste £20,000 on the rebrand was unbelievable”.

“I don’t know how Cllr Harris can look taxpayers in the eye!

"They’re continuing to slash services to balance the books and there are further huge increases in green bin charges and car parking planned.”