Staffordshire councillor blasts 'unfair' request for businesses to use council logo

A Tamworth councillor has branded proposals to ask businesses to display council branding as ‘entitled’ during a row over the borough’s enterprise centres. Council leaders were debating whether businesses using Tamworth Enterprise Centre should be asked to promote the council and the fact that they were ‘born and raised in Tamworth’.

The prosperity, place and environment overview and scrutiny committee were recently given an update on Tamworth Enterprise Centres, which opened in 2017. They heard that it is currently operating at a loss but businesses based on the site have a strong success rate.

Councillors on the committee wanted to know whether businesses using the space were or could be asked to include the Tamworth Borough Council logo or an alternative on their letterhead and websites to promote the council’s role. They recommended that council leaders ask businesses using the centres to include council branding.

Council leader Carol Dean, who was at the meeting, said: “While I think everyone recognised we couldn’t force anyone to do it, it would be a very nice thing if they were willing to put a little logo on their paperwork and just to acknowledge the fact they are in one of our buildings really.”

Councillor Nova Arkney, who is portfolio holder for infrastructure and local economy, responded by saying that asking businesses to promote the enterprise centres isn’t ‘fair’ and ‘entitled’ at a time which is already difficult for businesses.

She said: “I do think that asking businesses to promote the business centre isn’t necessarily fair on people who are customers of ours. I think we can certainly encourage them to promote it at the moment across our enterprise function.

“We try and work with lots of businesses to promote Tamworth. I think there is something of entitlement from a council to say please can you promote our services when businesses have a lot on their plate, promoting their own services, keeping track of their bottom line, at a time which is difficult for businesses.

“So I would say this is quite a lot to ask businesses, to change their branding, to add extra things to what they have to do already to promote our services. I’m not sure that strikes the right chord for me with our local business owners.”

The council leader commented: “It was seen as being a very softly softly approach. We weren’t going to demand that people do things, it was just if they felt they could and maybe online. If they don’t want to, if they really don’t like us as their landlord and they don’t want to, then we definitely wouldn’t go down the route of saying you’d got to.

Councillor Arkney, who is also a small business owner replied: “As their landlord, I just think businesses have so many things to think about and we’re asking them things all the time and I just don’t think that it strikes the right chord to be asking for a favour from the businesses that are using our spaces.”