Initiatives – The Council’s Magazine
Initiatives is the Council’s quaterly magazine delivered to 60,000 households and businesses in the District. Its objectives are to:
●Keep residents informed of the Council’s priorities and policies
●Increase access and take-up of Council services
●Publicise new initiatives including local partnerships
●Raise the profile of the Council
●Increase consultation and community engagement
●Celebrate Council and community achievements and successes
●To raise awareness of the Council’s community leadership role and build confidence in the Council
1.Roles and Responsibilities
1.1The Public Relations team edits the articles for Initiatives. Articles are welcomed from officers, councillors, community groups and residents.
1.2The Initiatives Editing Panel includes two councillors. Their role is to provide input, ideas and their opinions on each issue. The role of the councillor should not exceed these parameters. Local authorities face more legal restrictions than private bodies when it comes to external publicity. Most importantly, councils cannot publish material which appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party. The Secretary of State has also issued statutory guidance under the Local Government Act 2000 which the Council should follow. The guidance emphasises that the role of publicity is informative and should be well balanced and objective. It notes that local authorities should not ‘mount publicity campaigns whose primary purpose is to persuade the public to hold a particular view on a question of policy.’ For further information on this please refer to the Council’s Press and Media guidelines.
1.3All articles should be checked and signed off by the Manager responsible for each area. Managers will also be given the chance to give their opinion on the design and images that accompany their relevant article. The final stage of checking should be carried out by the Head of Legal, the Deputy Chief Executive for Corporate Services and the Strategic Management Team.
2.Style and Format of Publication
2.1Four years ago work was carried out to improve the quality, look and feel of the magazine. This resulted in the following:
●A4 format
●Printed on 90gsm
●Colour
●Modern photography
●Improved quality of design of the advertisements placed
The impact was immediately recognised by residents, councillor and officers alike and was achieved without any additional cost. In fact, savings have been continuously made, allowing additonal savings to be made every year.
2.2Design features are regularly refreshed and the Council’s modernised logo has been introduced to comply with the Disability and Discrimination Act standards.
3.Accessible to all
The magazine is currently made available in large print and on tape. Research has also been carried out to improve the style, colours and fonts for those with sight impairments. These guidelines can be found in the Communications Strategy. This will be refered to when designing initiatives and other Council publications.
Disability groups will be consulted about the design and readability of the magazine.
4.Readability and content
4.1All articles must be written in Plain English and a friendly and interesting style. Please refer to the Council’s Plain English guide and dictionary within the Communications Strategy.
4.2Council initiatives should always take priority as features within the magazine. However, every attempt will be made to include partner and community news.
4.3All contact details should be easily identified and highlighted in bold.
4.4All articles should have a short introductory parargraph.
4.5Articles should always been written in the active tense, not the passive tense. Please see Plain English guide.
4.6Quotes should be attributed to the appropriate Portfolio Holder. However, Ward Councillors should also be quoted where appropriate. Please refer to the Press and Media guidelines for further advice on Spokespeople.
4.7A wide range of Council services should be shown within each issue of the magazine, focusing on topics that are current.
4.8Regular features should include Business News, Community News and Westgate Leisure news.
4.9Details of all councillors, with a map and contact details, should appear once a year.
Every other issue, where appropriate, should feature three councillors and illsutrate what work they are carrying out in their area.
5.Production and distribution of the magazine
5.1The Public Relations team should always strive to keep costs low on all aspects of the magazine, while maintaining its quality. Research should be carried out on at least an annual basis to assess whether other suppliers may be able to offer better value for money.
5.2Any design agency working on the magazine should refer to the Council’s brand guidelines and accessibility guidelines.
5.3Any design agency producing the magazine, must also be able to sell the advertising within the magazine, which is set at a limit of five pages. A list of potential advertisers should be provided to the Council before each issue. Please refer to the advertising guidelines.
5.4Checks should be made every issue to ensure that the magazine was successfully distributed. Where this isn’t the case, the distributor will be asked to investigate.
Royal Mail price increases should also be carefully monitored to assess any impact this may have on the magazine’s costs.
A timetable for the year ahead outlining the Production Schedule will be made available on the Intranet.
6.Issues per year
6.1The Council currently produces four issues of initiatives each year. Due to resources, lead in times and the checking processes that are in place, it would not be advisable to increase this number.
7.Consultation
7.1Residents are encouraged to provide their comments on initiatives each issue. In addition, regular questionnaires are also issued through the Council’s consultation panel, ‘exchange’, and within the magazine itself.
7.2The results from the last questionnaire, which appeared in initiatives, were extremely positive with 90% of respondents stating that they read initaitives every time and 99% of responsents claiming that they found it interesting.
Comments included:
‘My husband and I read initiatives from cover to cover and both get a lot out of it. My favourite article was ‘Make a difference – become a volunteer’. Nearing retirement it helped me to see that I have nothing to fear, and indeed can be more useful in more ways than I ever thought possible.’
‘Please keep up the good work with the magazine!’
‘A very good magazine. Everyone should read it!’
‘I always pick the magazine up at my daughter’s and enjoy seeing what’s on’
8.What’s On
8.1‘What’s On’ will include major tourist and arts events and seasonal activities taking place within the District.
8.2Two pages will be dedicated to this each issue.
8.3Only those events taking place within the District will be included.
8.4The listings will not include training sessions.
‘Event of the month’ will give a more detailed picture of one event every issue.
9.Terms and Conditions of Advertising
9.1Chichester District Council has final approval on the choice and content of advertisements appearing in initiatives. All advertisements placed in initiatives are subject to Chichester District Council’s final consent and should any problems arise regarding an advertisement’s inclusion in the publication, this will be dealt with directly by a Council Officer and not the agency.
9.2No discounts or preferential treatment can be given to any individual advertiser unless otherwise agreed by Chichester District Council.
9.3The advertising agency reserves the right to allocate your advertisement in the pages available and no specific page or place can be guaranteed, although every endeavour will be made to place your advertisement to the best advantage.
9.4Due to the limited number of pages (5 including covers) no single advertiser can monopolise any one position and all advertisements are treated on a ‘first come first served basis’. No advertisement can be featured without a completed order form and a signed off proof.
9.5A proof of every advertisement will be sent to the advertiser who will be responsible for signing this off within the time allowed for this purpose and no liability can be accepted by the advertising agency for any error whatsoever in an advertisement.
9.6Any alterations to copy should be printed clearly to avoid any confusion.
9.7Amendments made to advertisements after official sign off will incur additional costs to the advertiser.
9.8If accidentally or otherwise an advertisement is omitted from the publication neither the advertising agency nor the Council shall be under any liability, other than to make a refund of the advertisement charge, or part thereof.
9.9The advertising agency with guidance from Chichester District Council reserves the right the reject any particular ‘copy’ or layout or to decline any application for space in the publication at any time.
10.Targets
10.1Initiatives should be produced four times a year and delivered to households and businesses across the District.
10.2A maximum of five pages of advertising should be sold per issue.
10.3Costs of the magazine should be reviewed at least annually in order to ensure best value.
10.4A schedule should be made available to all staff to view deadlines for the year ahead.
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