Council scraps £400,000 newspaper

A council newspaper in Cornwall is being scrapped because it is not making enough money.

Cornwall Council's Your Cornwall 24-page monthly paper was set up at a cost of £400,000 last year in an attempt to raise revenue by advertising.

It was criticised by the public and senior councillors as a waste of money.

The council said it planned to use a more local and focused way of communicating with residents, including using the internet.

It is clear that Your Cornwall is not working and is costing too much Alec Robertson, Cornwall Council

The council had also hoped to save money by using the paper, which was sent out to 250,000 households, to make public announcements that it previously had to pay for in other local publications.

Council Leader Alec Robertson said: "It is clear that Your Cornwall, which was part of the former county council's plan to improve the way it communicated with the public, is not working and is costing too much.

"We have a duty to council tax payers in Cornwall to spend their money wisely and feel that this money would be better spent on frontline services."

He added that the authority was also looking at the opportunities for using social networking media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs by councillors to communicate with residents.