Rochdale Council has come under fire from local residents after revealing it spent £65,000 on a re-branding scheme.

Yorkshire-based marketing agency Thinking Place Limited produced a “brand strategy and implementation plan” after seven months of community and business research which began in June 2009.

New rules are forcing all town halls to publish every payment they make over £500, with councils across Greater Manchester being forced to reveal how they have spent more than £250m of taxpayers’ money.

A Rochdale Council spokesman defended the campaign and told the Manchester Evening News the branding scheme was about “articulating an ambitious vision for the borough and capturing its strengths in order to be able to drive inward investment and tourism.”

But as is the way with always controversial place branding jobs, local residents took to online message boards over the weekend to vent their anger, with one user asking: “Why do we have a communication team at Rochdale Council? Shouldn't they be doing the marketing & re- branding?”

Another resident commented: “What Rochdale needs is not to be found in advertising but in practical projects to make the place more attractive.”

The news comes as Manchester City Council plans to axe 2,000 jobs, with the council's in-house and outsourced marketing services expected to be cut, and a row has begun over the appointment of two agencies by Merseytravel following a tender involving 29 companies.

Meanwhile, a group of companies from Burnley have appointed Brandspankin' to overhaul perceptions of the town.