Cornwall Council has been advised to ditch an idea to start printing a newspaper which would be sent to all households.

A printed newsletter was put forward as an idea for the council to look at following a recent inquiry by councillors regarding resident satisfaction.

Some councillors felt that it might be beneficial to launch a paper after receiving advice from councils elsewhere in the UK which offer such a service.

However a new report which is due to go before councillors next week suggests scrapping the idea because it would go against the council’s environmental aims and cost money it doesn’t have.

The council’s customer and support services overview and scrutiny committee will consider the report when it meets next Tuesday.

Councillors will be asked to recommend that council leader Julian German does not pursue the idea “on the grounds of affordability and the council’s commitment to reduce paper usage as part of its climate change agenda”.

The report further suggests that the council should use existing mailouts to residents – such as schedules for rubbish collection – to include broader information about council services.

It also says the council should further improve its website and step up efforts to increase the number of people subscribed to the council’s E-newsletter.

The report states that the Local Government Association (LGA) says that 65 per cent of councils regularly provide residents with a printed newsletter to keep them up to date with what the council is doing.

And residents’ surveys undertaken by Cornwall Council found that there was a call for more printed information to be provided.

But it adds: “There is currently no budget for this and affordability is a challenge in the context of the tough budget decisions currently facing the council. More importantly, the council has committed to tackling the climate emergency and as part of its wide-ranging action plan it is seeking to reduce paper usage.”

The report concludes: “On balance, therefore, we would not recommend introducing a printed newsletter. Instead, we have identified alternative options which secure value for money for our residents while also providing them with more direct communications about council services and benefits, which they have told us they want.

“Cornwall Council already sends a small number of printed communications direct to every household; for example each year we send every household its waste and recycling schedule. We propose to use these existing mailings to include additional information about broader council services, providing more direct communication to residents in a way which secures value for money. This would not require any additional budget.

“Alongside this, as noted above, we are accelerating work to improve the council’s website both as a communications channel, and as a means for residents to access online services; and we are stepping up our efforts to increase the number of residents who subscribe to our digital newsletter so that it becomes a wide and trusted source of direct information for residents

online.”

The customer and support services overview and scrutiny committee will consider the report when it meets next Tuesday (January 14).