THE controlling Labour group on Warrington Borough Council have been accused of “behaving like dinosaurs” again by attempting to change the Council’s brand by the backdoor.
Yet another leaked email makes it clear the ruling Labour Group intends to revert back to the original Borough crest, instead of the blue logo which was controversially introduced by the former Lib Dem / Conservative administration five years ago.
Lib Dem Leader on the Council Cllr Ian Marks (pictured left) said, “We introduced the new logo back in 2007 as an emblem of a modern, forward looking successful local authority. It was designed by a local person and represents Nike the goddess who appears on the Golden Gates and signifies victory.
“At the same time we kept the traditional crest for ceremonial purposes because we were very proud of the tradition associated with it. We were getting the best of both worlds.
“We were quite unjustifiably accused by Labour of introducing the change without proper consultation. But what are they doing now? Making a backwards change with no consultation at all.
“They showed their dinosaur tendency when we introduced ipads and they opposed this. These are now commonplace amongst private and public sector organisations and many in Labour think we should have more of them here in the Council.
“But they daren’t introduce them for fear of the flak they would get for doing a U-turn. By appearing to want to phase out the new logo, they are again showing their dinosaur tendency. Perhaps it says something about their view of the Council and the town?”
But Labour deputy leader Cllr Mike Hannon (pictured right) refuted the claims saying the Borough crest had never been dropped and it had been decided to gradually revert back to it at no additional cost.
“From what we have been hearing from the people of Warrington is that the consensus of opinion is that the Lib Dems and Tories sneaked the new logo in through the back door, when the vast majority of people would prefer to see the borough crest.
“All that has been decided is that we are going to listen to the people on the street and gradually revert back to use of the borough crest on headed notepaper as it needs replacing.
“To hold a full blown consultation would have cost thousands of pounds. We are acting upon information we have been receiving and using some common sense.”
Council logo row rumbles on
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
12 Comments
Another non-story from the failed leader Marks – the crest shows heritage that people are proud of. Looks like this costs no money – how much did the Lib Dems pay for the wings?
It is a pity that they don’t act on all the comments that people make.
Personally, I never hear the logo mentioned, so it smacks of one-upmanship.
Totally agree with Reflex I work at the authority and remember the total waste of moniy on this project and whats more I am a Warrington person and proud of it
good on the Labour ruling group
I must say out of the two logos I prefer the wings. The crest looks outdated.
At the end of the day if WBC wish to make bad publicity for themselves by squabbling and making bad decisions "in the interest of the public", who ONLY find out what's happening once it's come into force i.e. no consultation whatsoever, then we just vote them out and bring in a party that will actually do the work they're paid for.
If Warrington Borough Council is planning to set Warrington back to its traditions, does this mean showing “MERRY CHRISTMAS” in the Christmas lights, not “recycle Warrington” or “seasons greeting” to make the minority religions of this town happy and leaving out the wishes of what the majority of the town would like?
Oh sorry. This is WBC, the Council who like to go with the minority vote!
I thought they were supposed to represent splashes of water thrown up by WBC as it drives roughshod over the concerns of the electorate.
Agree 100% both about both retaining our crest and getting rid of that bloody awful un-Christmas like sign. Whoever makes these decisions is totally out of touch with the feelings within our town and Mike Hannon, as is often the case, is the voice of common sense.
Well done to labour on this one.
The Lib dems missed a vital part off the “wings” logo. which was the sign of two hands clasped together, it would have signified how the lib dems controlled this town on a wing and a prayer.
I never thought I would ever write anything positive about Labour in my lifetime….. but well done for trying to save a last morsel of the towns heritage….. about 30 years too late for all the old buildings that all partys have let be destroyed over the years; but good job on this one
I will be glad to see the borough crest back instead of that tacky looking scrawl. I would hope that whatever remaining heritage buildings we have would be accorded the same respect but with council officers in post who seem to be determined to leave their tacky imprint on the town I doubt it. Perhaps Mike Hannon might persuade other party members to employ heritage sympathetic planning and regeneration officers – then we may be able to retain a town to be proud of.
Oh dear a Daily Mail reader 🙂 – decisions like that are usually taken without any pressure from or even speaking to minority religious groups – whether that minority group is christians (yes practicing christians are a minority), moslems or others. There have been occassions where representatives of non-christian faith groups have had to make it plain that they have no problem with christmas being mentioned or celebrated. unfortunately rags like the Mail, Sun and Telegraph find it inconvenient to print the facts – they get in the way of a good story.
Re the suppposedly meaningful crest – it is so meaningless that very few life-long residents would even be able to pick it out of a line-ip or know what the elements, including the logo, actually mean.
I meant motto – not logo , sorry