The Council has undergone a challenging budget which will see it make £30m worth of cuts.

As a result, the Council is working on different ways to generate income to reduce its reliance on government grants.

One initiative is to use its online presence to hosts appropriate paid-for adverts.

Telford & Wrekin Council has linked up with the Council Advertising Network (CAN). This is a website advertising agency that secures advertising from national companies which want to promote their business through local authority websites.

Commercial advertisements will appear on the council’s corporate website, as well as its leisure and town park sites (www.telfordandwrekinleisure.co.uk and www.telfordtownpark.co.uk).

This initiative will bring a new income stream to the Council. In addition to the income that it will receive from national advertisers, a proportion of the advertising space will be available for local businesses.

This will also include advertisements promoting council services and upcoming events.

Councillor Lee Carter, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Finance and Service Delivery, said: “The stark reality of the financial situation we have been presented with means that we’ve had to take some very tough financial decisions to make our figures add up.

“But it has also presented an opportunity for us to find imaginative and creative ways to generate revenue like never before. Using our online resources to generate an income stream that promote Council services and events as well as local and national businesses and organisations is a natural step in the right direction.

“We have a huge and diverse audience within our community and that presents potential advertisers with a ready-made market to take advantage of and I would very much encourage them to do that.”

Details of this and other advertising opportunities can be found on the Commercial Services website at http://www.twccommercial.co.uk/

For any queries about website advertising, contact Dan Mackriel, the Council’s Commercial Sales Officer in the Commercial Projects team on 01952 380522 or email sponsorship@telford.gov.uk

There is also the opportunity to take advertisements in the Council’s quarterly magazine, Your Voice, as well as opportunities to sponsor roundabouts and boundary signs in the borough.