A LEADING Liberal Democrat Torbay councillor has criticised thousands of calendars, costing £22,000, sent out by Torbay Council as 'propaganda'.

Cllr Ruth Pentney received her 'Torbay Together' calendar last week.

The calendar, which was a joint project by Torbay Council, Torbay Care Trust and the police, cost £22,000 to produce and copies have been sent to each of the Bay's 65,000 households.

Cllr Pentney said she was 'horrified' Torbay Council and its partners had spent so much on the calendar.

She said: "I have elderly and vulnerable constituents who need small works done to their homes and the council are wasting money like this.

"It is just trying to boost the image of the council but at the tax payer's expense and it is nothing more than propaganda."

She added: "Politics apart, I am horrified they have spent this amount of money on this."

Each month of the calendar provides a fact the unitary authority is proud about as well as providing a directory to services in the Bay.

A Torbay Council spokeswoman explained that the authority, Torbay Care Trust and the police had split the cost equally between them.

The full colour calendars are being sent to each of the Bay's 65,000 households at a cost of 35p per copy which includes all production and distribution costs, totalling £22,750, with each agency paying £7,583 each towards the total.

Deliveries started in mid-January but the council says because of delays in distribution, some households still have not received their copy.

This month's fact for February is that Government inspectors recently rated Children's Services run by the authority, Torbay Care Trust and partners as 'performing well'.

However, at a recent scrutiny budget meeting top children's officer Dr Carol Tozer asked for a further £450,000 to bolster the Children's services budget. This request was later granted by the cabinet and will now go before the full council for formal approval.

The authority's Children's Services and its partners were also subject to its first serious case review since 2003 and given a 12-point action plan to improve on after an eight-week-old baby sustained brain injuries while in the care of its parents for the first time.

Lib Dem leader, Cllr Steve Darling, said although the calendar was jointly funded, there were clearly savings which could be made.

He said: "It is quite galling if you see this and have lost sometimes thousands, more often than not hundreds, of pounds from your wages in the job evaluation and they are spending money on this kind of propaganda."

He also claimed that council staff had told him the calendars had been delivered and left in the rain, making them 'useless'.

A council spokesman explained that because of recent rainy conditions, there had been a small number of residents complaining because their calendars had been left outside.

She added: "We have been in contact with the delivery company responsible."

However Cllr Kevin Carroll, Tory cabinet member for performance at Torbay Council said the calendar provides residents with a comprehensive A to Z list of council, health, police, and fire and rescue service contact details.

He added: "This is not an unusual method of communicating with residents. A to Z service booklets are sent out by most local authorities in the UK. Sending out an A to Z in this way enables us to demonstrate the positive work our organisations are jointly undertaking across the Bay, and that we are listening and responding in areas which residents feel need improving.

"In terms of cost effectiveness, the calendars were jointly funded."