Telford and Wrekin Council defends website revamp cost

Telford and Wrekin Council said the £104,000 redesign of its website was money well spent

A Shropshire council has defended spending more than £100,000 revamping its website.

The £104,000 Telford and Wrekin Council project was revealed in a Freedom of Information request by Great Dawley parish councillor Sean Davies.

Mr Davies said Telford was wasting money when it was facing £4m cuts.

But Councillor Sean Kelly, cabinet member for customer focus and efficiency, said the cost was value for money.

Mr Davies said it was a large amount of money to be spending in the current financial climate.

"Huge amount"

"It strikes me that the council are a bit more concerned about their public image than they are about frontline services at times," he said.

"£104,000 is a huge amount to spend."

Mr Kelly told BBC Shropshire the amount was good value for improving such a big website.

He said the website was not a public image exercise but an important service enabling people to pay council tax bills and access information.

He said: "I'm not going to apologise for improving access to council services.

"Regardless of how difficult the financial climate is in this country, the council is not going to shut up show and unnecessarily penalise residents for making use of our services."