Welsh council newsletter making a comeback as social media fails to reach everyone

Elgan Hearn, Local democracy reporter

A Gwent council has restarted its newsletter as it attempts to reach more residents to explain their work.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Corporate Governance and Resources scrutiny committee on Thursday, February 19, discussion of the newsletter took place as councillors probed the proposed seven principles that will underpin The Deal.

According to the council, The Deal is: “a new way of working between the council, communities and partner organisations, with the aim of building a fairer, more resilient Blaenau Gwent, improving health and well‑being, and reducing inequalities.”

Natalia Silver, a director at Local Partnerships, which is a public sector organisation jointly owned by the Welsh Government, Local Government Association and the UK Government’s Treasury Department which provides expert advice and resources to help public services, had helped conduct the Citizen Assembly meetings to discuss the principles of The Deal.

One of the principles is for: “Pride and Potential for the future.”

Ms Silver told councillors different communication channels had been discussed as part of this principle.

Ms Silver said: “It was tempting to put this as a separate principle on its own, but it occurs throughout all of the principles.

“It’s about good communication and not just relying on social media, and being more creative to reach different people, ages and backgrounds.”

Cllr Chris Smith (Labour – Beaufort) said: “I’m very wary about relying on social media.

“I hope we can get something in the next Blaenau Gwent newsletter – a brief explanation of this to people who are not on the internet or tech-savvy.

“We do seem to be leaving those behind a little bit.”

Joint chief executive of both Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen councils, Steve Vickers, said: “I agree completely which is why we have reintroduced the newsletter.

“One of the other things that’s come out of the Citizen’s Assembly is people not knowing all the great work that’s going on – we need to improve our communications and where people can access that information.

“There will be more to come through people’s doors, more in doctor’s waiting rooms and receptions.

“It was clear from the Citizen’s Assembly that it was not good enough, or they did not know where to find that information, and that’s a lesson for us.”

He said that the council has around 24,000 followers on Facebook, but not all read Blaenau Gwent’s posts.

Mr Vickers continued: “We must not forget how Facebook and the like work. We put a post up and another, it gets lost in the stream.

“We probably overestimate just how powerful social media platforms are.”

Cllr Smith agreed with Mr Vickers and said that he found it “frustrating” when people told him they “knew nothing” about a council topic that had been publicised.

Cllr Smith said: “At least we will be able to say – you had a newsletter through the door, and it was in there.”