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Old 08-06-2007, 20:34   #141
g jones
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Graham Jones/Press - the full version

Thought I'd post the full text sent to the Ob.

"I totally support Clr Britcliffe's proposal to change the name of the Borough though we have to be careful why we are doing this, and what exactly we will gain. This rebranding comes on the back of a recent corporate rebranding in 2004 when The Council spent £thousands celebrating 30 years of Hyndburn and the rebranding throughout The Council which contained The Council's latest vision, 'Making Hyndburn a Better Place to Live, Work and Visit'. Clr Britcliffe said last month he was delighted that Hyndburn was the 18th most attractive place in Britain, a place on the up which is becoming a better place for people to live and bring up families. Are we confident that a name change will see benefits?

I believe it could but The Council needs to do a lot more to capitalise, otherwise the name change could just be an expensive waste. I would like us to do so with at least some reasonable evidence that there will be some benefit and not just a cost to the Council Tax payer. At the moment there is no proper costing'. I am surprised a figure of £20,000 has been mentioned for just signs, there will be quite a few hidden costs. It's not just stationary and vehicles. It's all communications. We probably spend about £50,000 plus on leaflets and printing promoting the Borough of Hyndburn. Companies that use the name Hyndburn haven't been consulted yet, so that is something The Council is going to have to take onboard in the coming months. It's not going to be straight forward and I would liked to have seen some more thought and planning gone into it before this big announcement.

Concerning Councillors is that we are all hearing about this for the first time through the newspapers, as too are residents. The Cabinet is saying the name change will happen. It would have been beneficial if this had gone to Area Councils so people could have thrown in their two penneth and I am sure the public would have thrown up a lot of good and helpful questions. Unfortunately we have missed the Parliamentary Boundary name change this time so we will still have two names for a few years.

The immediate commercial advantage could be our town centres which are a significant part of our local economy. Accrington and Great Harwood are market towns who can't compete as clone towns to Preston, Manchester and even Blackburn. They not only need to push their brand identity as Market Towns, they need to have plans for investment which builds on this identity and puts them in competing with the likes of Clitheroe, Skipton and Bury. All Hyndburn's urban districts, Clayton, Rishton, Oswaldtwistle as well, have unique identities which need to be enhanced. However one former urban district council, Church, seems to have been rubbed off the map.

Labour Councillor will over the coming month's be helping and working with the Conservatives in any way we can to look into all the issues so 'the big changeover' really is something we can benefit from."
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