TWELVE months after Warrington Borough Council caused a storm by introducing a new logo to replace the coat-of-arms on its letterheads, the row has broken out again.
But according to deputy leader of the council Keith Bland, there has not been a single complaint from the public.
He was responding to a question put by Coun Linda Dirir – who was Mayor at the time the controversy broke.
She asked: “As the new logo for Warrington has not been well received and has led to much ridicule by the people of Warrington who greatly value their borough crest – would the deputy leader confirm that the decision to implement it will be re-evaluated as he promised in a Warrington-Wordwide video clip 12 months ago?”
Coun Bland stressed that the borough crest had been retained and was still used for Mayoral and civic occasions.
But since the new logo had been introduced the council had not received a single complaint about it, he said.
He also pointed out that there had been a saving of £30,000 on corporate stationery as a result of the simplified design of the logo compared to the crest.
He said a re-evaluation had already started to test public reaction to the logo.
Coun Dirir suggested the reduced cost of stationery was more to do with the fact that many letters were now photo-copied – “poor imitations” of the originals.
She asked if the public could be consulted through a questionnaire in the next issue of the council magazine “The Wire.”
Coun Bland said he would look into the possibility of doing this.
There was uproar last year when it was discovered the new logo was to replace the borough coat-of-arms on council letterheads, vehicles, etc.
Labour councillors claimed they had not been consulted – and the entire Labour Group staged a protest walk-out at one council meeting.
Freeman of the borough and former Mayor Ivy Edwards handed in a protest petition signed by more than 300 people.
The council logo (top, right) and the borough coat-of-arms (left).
