Rother looks to improve communication

Cabinet will be asked at next Monday's meeting to support the project which could see the hiring of two communications officers.

If agreed, the licensing and general purposes committee will be asked to approve the posts of senior communications officer, responsible for the branding and marketing of Rother, and another officer responsible for day-to-day press work and internal communications.

The scheme will also see the implementation of a work programme and training for staff.

The costs will be met for a three-year term from earmarked reserves.

The expected cost is 450,000.

The figure is slightly less than one per cent of Rother's net spend per year.

Rother chief executive and project sponsor Derek Stevens will warn members there are significant risks for the council's reputation if they under resource communications requirements.

In his report to members, he says: "The outcome of this project is to improve our reputation leading to better customer satisfaction, trust and confidence and better service take up.

"We recognise our reputation is critical to success, not in its own right, but as a driver of good governance, community relations and quality of life. Press and media relations are a vitally important part of this activity."

He adds research has shown 74 per cent of residents feel Rother could communicate with them better and 48 per cent feel they are not always told what is going on.

Residents also wanted published information to be clear and to the point, whilst 60 per cent council staff expressed low satisfaction with some aspects of internal communications.

A draft marketing and communications plan has been drawn up to guide the council in the medium term.

Mr Stevens adds in his report: "Consideration of the resources to fully develop and implement the plans has led to the conclusion that further expertise and time resource will be needed to deliver this work to a standard that will serve Rother well into the future."