Hyndburn to be axed. - Page 10

WillowTheWhisp · 08-06-2007, 17:18

OOOh Gayle, you're not suggesting shennanigins are you?

Gayle · 08-06-2007, 17:59

Anyway, another thought about the cost.

They say they've put £20,000 aside for the change of signs. I would like someone to put some costs to the following items as well.

Redesigning a logo (the Hinds head will have to go)?
Designing all the crests?
Amending the council website?
Amending the council computer system?
Rebranding all the council vans and rubbish trucks?
Reprinting letterheads/compliment/council tax slips?
Reprinting all the council literature?
Legal renaming and banking changes?
Plus all the man hour to affect all the changes?

The £20k won't cover all that.

Plus, I'd be interested to know if there'll be any compensation for any groups that have taken the name. I'm a member of three community organisations that use the name.

Hyndburn Mela and Community Festival
Hyndburn Women's Forum
Hyndburn Community Network

All will have to have discussions about changing their name, then we'll have to change the banking details, reprint literature, websites, logos and letterheads. All of which costs money!

We're not the only ones it will affect, there are 100s of groups and businesses that use Hyndburn in their name.

garinda · 08-06-2007, 18:07

I have it on very good authority that signs cost £5,000 each.

You'll notice Britcliffe said there was twenty grand set aside, not that they were going to cost that much.

WillowTheWhisp · 08-06-2007, 19:59

The people who have voted in favour of this haven't thought of all the repercussions as I said earlier. I hope these organisations will let the council know how they feel about the unwelcome expense.

SPUGGIE J · 08-06-2007, 20:24

Even if the poll had been strongly in favour of change the final decission would have to be based on cost and cost alone.

g jones · 08-06-2007, 20:34

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."

Gayle · 08-06-2007, 20:58

That's great and clearly you're not embracing it all out without the need for further discussion.

One question though - why can Gt Harwood and Accrington not trade on their names currently? The Hyndburn name change makes not the slightest bit of difference to the promotion of the town name.

The thing is that none of the towns use Hyndburn to promote themselves anyway - Hyndburn is just the administrative name. Nothing will change there because nothing has ever changed with that.

SPUGGIE J · 08-06-2007, 21:49

Accy and Gt Harwood or any of the towns in the borough could trade on their own names. Up hear just because a town is under another name administrative wise or tied to another dosnt stop them promoting what they have. The individual town has that ability and should use it along with any company or orginisation who uses it. Look at Stoclkeys Sweets Hollands Pies even Ossy Mills they dont forget were they are from.

WillowTheWhisp · 08-06-2007, 21:55

If anything I think it will be detrimental to Great Harwood to have it's identity overshadowed by Accrington in the name change.

shillelagh · 08-06-2007, 22:03

Hang on spug - Hollands Pies is in Rising Bridge - Rossendale not Baxenden even though they say that on their vans .

garinda · 08-06-2007, 22:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

That's great and clearly you're not embracing it all out without the need for further discussion.

One question though - why can Gt Harwood and Accrington not trade on their names currently? The Hyndburn name change makes not the slightest bit of difference to the promotion of the town name.

The thing is that none of the towns use Hyndburn to promote themselves anyway - Hyndburn is just the administrative name. Nothing will change there because nothing has ever changed with that.

...and the area would still be know as the constituency of Hyndburn in Parliament, so the name won't disappear anyway.

Gayle · 08-06-2007, 22:22

So all we're really talking about is an expensive exercise so that the Councillors don't have to say 'I'm a Councillor for Hyndburn'.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

garinda · 08-06-2007, 22:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

So all we're really talking about is an expensive exercise so that the Councillors don't have to say 'I'm a Councillor for Hyndburn'.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

That's it in a nutshell!

We are from Accrington/Great Harwood/Baxenden/Ossy/Huncoat etc. That's what we say when asked where we are from. The only people who have to use the bloody name of Hyndburn are the people on the council.

This is just an expensive way to stop them getting flustered, and giddy, when asked what council they represent.

SPUGGIE J · 08-06-2007, 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by shillelagh

Hang on spug - Hollands Pies is in Rising Bridge - Rossendale not Baxenden even though they say that on their vans .

Stand corrected.

Gayle · 08-06-2007, 22:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

That's it in a nutshell!

We are from Accrington/Great Harwood/Baxenden/Ossy/Huncoat etc. That's what we say when asked where we are from. The only people who have to use the bloody name of Hyndburn are the people on the council.

This is just an expensive way to stop them getting flustered, and giddy, when asked what council they represent.

Phew, so glad we've got that sorted out.