My feelings about glossy council magazines have been made plain enough over the years.

It is wrong to use distribution networks, propped up with public money, to compete for advertising revenue with independent local newspapers, while often spreading party political propaganda.

One of the better things Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has done is to order council magazines to be published no more than quarterly, though it remains unclear what sanctions will be imposed on disobedient local authorities.

Now, the controversy is taking a new twist. As an alternative to cutting jobs, Hartlepool Borough Council's public relations team has been given permission to generate income by offering communication services to external organisations.

Clients so far include Wynyard Business Park, Cleveland Fire Brigade and the majority of schools in the borough.

I have a number of questions:

* How does a council competing with private PR firms square with the Government's big idea for the North-East of boosting the private sector to rebalance a regional economy over-dependant on the public sector?

* Is there not clear potential for conflicts of interest? Will, for example, the council's PR department look after the press release if the business park submits a planning application?

* And if they have time for private work, does it not suggest they are over-staffed?

I wonder what Eric Pickles thinks.