A council decision to take out two pages of advertising editorial with a local newspaper has been dubbed undemocratic by a councillor, who "called-in" the decision.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jeremy Clyne claimed Lambeth Council was trying to work around rules set out in the Localism Bill to clamp down local authority newspapers by awarding Southwark News with a £1m contract over a five year period.
The contract will be for two pages of advertising features per edition of a fortnightly title and statutory notices.
The call-in was taken to an extraordinary scrutiny committee meeting on June 9, where it was decided the council would not be interfering with the editorial line of Southwark News titles and the decision to award the contract did not need to be reviewed.
Coun Clyne appeared at the BBC’s Politics Show, on Sunday, where Minister for Communities and Local Government Bob Neill claimed the council was cheating on the system with public money.
He also said that some councils were deliberately trying to ignore guidelines and waste taxpayers money on “party political propaganda on the rates”.
Lambeth Council leader Councillor Steve Reed said he would prefer to place the adverts online, but the Government would not allow it.
Newsquest, owners of the Stretham Guardian, was one of the companies that bid for the council’s tender.
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