People prompted to have their say by campaign on bin lorries using Spedian™ panels
People living and working in South Northamptonshire have been urged to join in a key public consultation – by messages displayed on bin lorries.
Refuse trucks were used for three weeks in a short campaign to prompt people to comment on proposals to reorganise local government county-wide.
The campaign message was paraded around in front of almost every home in the South Northamptonshire Council area during normal bin collection rounds.
The bin lorry poster campaign was easy to organise because four had already been fitted with Spedian™ quick change vehicle graphics.
South Northamptonshire Council uses Spedian™ system to turn RCVs into ‘moving billboards’
South Northamptonshire Council had fitted the Spedian™ system to turn the bin lorries into ‘moving billboards’ to promote recycling and council services.
Elly Attwood, Service Development and Commercial Waste Manager for the council, said: “One of our councillors noticed we had been advertising the council’s MOT services on the sides of a refuse truck and suggested we use them to spread the message about the public consultation.
“We want as many people as possible to give their views so we were only too happy to oblige. It was easy to do quickly because the Spedian™ panels can be fitted very quickly and removed without damaging the vehicles in any way.
“The campaign ran for three weeks and passed in front of all 39,000 homes in our area so it had wide exposure and reached a lot of people who live and work here.
“An added bonus was that we didn’t waste the graphics which we were using before – we were able to simply remove them, roll them up and bring them out again once the campaign about the public consultation was completed.
“Spedian has been very helpful in enabling us to run a short-term campaign.”
People prompted to have their say by campaign on bin lorries using Spedian™ panels
The council was canvassing views about a Government proposal to shake up local government arrangements in the wake of a financial crisis at Northamptonshire County Council.
The leader of South Northamptonshire Council, Cllr Ian McCord, donned a hi-visibility jacket to highlight the campaign message on the sides of the bin lorries. Consultation has now closed.
All eight councils in Northamptonshire have been asked by the Government to come up with a proposal for new Unitary authorities in the county that will have widespread public support.
It follows a critical Best Value review of Northamptonshire County Council which recommended that plans be developed for two unitary authorities, instead of the current two-tier arrangement of the county council and seven smaller district and borough councils.
Note to editors:
1) The seven other councils are Corby Borough Council, Daventry District Council, East Northamptonshire Council, Kettering Borough Council, Northampton Borough Council, South Northamptonshire Council and the Borough Council of Wellingborough.