HARLOW Conservatives have slammed the Labour-run Harlow Council for spending £83.000 on a PR campaign to promote the town.

Deputy leader of the Harlow Conservatives, Joel Charles asked the question at full council last Thursday. He received a reply on Tuesday.

Cllr Joel Charles said: “Nobody disagrees that we need to promote Harlow and attract inward investment, but this PR campaign was doomed to failure from the outset. There are no formal measures of success or specific targets for achieving value for money. I am also surprised that no case studies promoting businesses in the town or residents’ stories were used to help tell others, as part of the campaign, why Harlow is a great place to live.

“Labour Councillors have needlessly wasted taxpayers’ money on a rushed PR campaign. There are serious questions about how Harlow Council manages and controls costs when they commission PR consultants.”

The development of the Discover Harlow campaign cost £47,500 for phase one, (the development/consultation phase), just under £16,500 for phase 2,( launch and implementation) and the materials and showreel which bring the initiative to life cost just over £19,000.

Portfolio Holder for Community Wellbeing, Councillor Eugenie Harvey has defended the project. Cllr Harvey said: “Discover Harlow is a planned approach to promoting Harlow that will continue for many years to come. The initiative is backed by local businesses, organisations and key individuals, more than 100 of whom took part in the lengthy consultation process which informed the final campaign.

“The launch event was attended by representatives of more than 80 organizations and leading figures from Public Health England, Harlow Enterprise Zone, Harlow Art Trust and Countryside Properties spoke to roundly endorse the initiative and to present their own enthusiastic views of the town and its potential.

“Discover Harlow is vital for the town’s future prospects by attracting investment and bringing visitors to the town. The more investment and interest we can create in Harlow the more it will benefit everyone with new jobs and new opportunities for all. If Harlow is to compete with other areas then it needs to promote itself successfully, if business and people don’t know about Harlow and what it has to offer, they won’t come to our town, in fact some business might not stay in our town.

“Harlow Council is serious about promoting Harlow and having invested in the set-up of Discover Harlow, we envisage that over time it will be adopted by businesses and other organisations and that it will eventually be funded by the private sector. This has been the experience elsewhere and we see no reason why it should not be the case in Harlow.

“It is widely recognised that more needs to be done to promote Harlow and all it has to offer. We also need to improve perceptions of the town and challenge those things which have been said about Harlow in the past. We can do this by promoting the many opportunities within the town and the unique and distinctive qualities that we are fortunate to possess; our heritage, culture, and our geographic location. These things are all at the forefront of Discover Harlow.

“I’m confident, given the size of the opportunity and the risk of failing to act, that the investment in Discover Harlow was well made and that over time this will be proven and through the economic growth of our town and improved opportunities for our residents”.

Cllr Joel Charles has told YH that he has written to the Managing Director of Harlow Council to raise concerns about the procurement process used to appoint the PR consultants. He is seeking answers about when and on what basis PR consultants were commissioned to develop the Discover Harlow campaign.