North Tyne mayoral authority criticised for £30k 'PR campaign'

Jamie Driscoll will run for mayor at the new combined authority

Councillors have questioned why the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) is spending £30,000 on a final report.

The move has sparked criticism as NTCA will soon be abolished and mayor Jamie Driscoll is preparing to run as leader of its successor.

NTCA will pay an external PR consultant £32,895 for a final report celebrating its achievements since 2018.

NTCA said the project was "good practice in terms of evaluation and learning".

The final report will be published alongside a promotional campaign featuring podcasts and videos, which will run from January to March next year.

The combined authority was set up in 2018 under a devolution deal for Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside.

It will be disbanded in May and replaced by the North East Mayoral Combined Authority, which will also oversee Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Durham.

Mayoral election concerns

The plans to carry out the "PR campaign" were questioned by councillors at an NTCA scrutiny meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Liberal Democrat councillor Greg Stone said: "I am concerned that a PR campaign involving production of videos, podcasts and paid social media ads running in the months before the mayoral election is unlikely to be an objective assessment, given that the brief talks of celebrating achievements and successes."

He added that creating a "marketing tool for brand awareness" may not be necessary for an organisation that will "cease to exist in a matter of months".

A North of Tyne spokesperson said: "This is about making sure the next phases of devolution in the North East learn the lessons of North of Tyne - so we can build on what works, and think about how we might adapt and improve in other areas."

The spokesperson added that the project would help unlock additional investment through "a positive appraisal of the delivery and impact" of NTCA.