Wiltshire Council’s £475,000 rebranding exercise – the highest amount of any council in the country – has been slammed as a waste of public money.

The money was spent when the five former councils merged into one in 2009 and paid for changing the logo on uniforms, road signs and vehicles so voters were not ‘confused’.

A survey of every local authority in Britain by a national newspaper revealed that of the 300 councils that responded, Wiltshire spent the most on rebranding in the last three years.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Jon Hubbard attacked the spending spree and accused Wiltshire Council of throwing out uniforms that were still in plastic packaging simply because the logo had changed.

Cllr Hubbard said: “I am aware some units of the council had shelves of T-shirts that hadn’t been used. They were perfectly good uniforms. Spending £179,000 replacing logos on council buildings just beggars belief. The public know they are council buildings. It is a wanton waste of public money.

“The £475,000 wasted on this could have paid for 40 jobs. I think the council administration owe an apology to the staff they made redundant just in time for Christmas.”

Council leader Cllr Jane Scott said: “Full council agreed the new council should be called Wiltshire Council as it was a new organisation and, as such, should have a new name and be rebranded to avoid any confusion relating to the former five organisations.

“Rebranding is a cost that has to be met when organisations are merged. The council was aware of the need to ensure rebranding was undertaken in the most cost effective way possible. The design of the new brand and the creation of the tagline ‘where everybody matters’ were undertaken in house.

“Where buildings, vehicles and other assets had to be rebranded, the focus was on those that were most visible such as refuse freighters and signage at our main offices.”

Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This level of spending on logos shows shocking vanity by Wiltshire Council. They should be helping ordinary families by keeping council tax down, not wasting money by giving their image a makeover.”

Where did the money go?

£2,188 on a new logo

£17,135 on car park ticket machines

£179,227 replacing logos on buildings

£90,436 on vehicles

£113,827 replacing uniforms

£2,366 changing road signs

£11,395 changing signs inside council offices

£17,494 on parks and gardens

£25,505 changing signs in car parks