Greenwich Council has been accused of selling the borough’s brand “too cheaply” after accepting a “surprisingly low” sum to rename the area to promote the film Wicked.
Signs were changed in Greenwich town centre last month to plug the film, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, a week before its release.
Ceremonial mayor Jit Ranabhat unveiled a plaque at the Greenwich Foot Tunnel on November 12 to say the borough had been renamed “GreenWitch”.
But while Greenwich Council has refused to say how much it was paid for the stunt, the Conservative opposition leader said he had been told the amount in confidence, and said he was surprised at how low it was.
The council has also refused a Freedom of Information Act request from The Greenwich Wire asking how much it was paid – despite Transport for London disclosing the amount it was paid for similar deals on the Tube network.
Renaming Bond Street station as “Burberry Street” and Old Street as “Fold Street” – to promote clothing and mobile phones – together netted £500,000, accessibility campaigners found out.
But Woolwich Town Hall won’t reveal how much it was paid to hire out the borough’s main tourist hotspot and alter public street signs. It had previously said the money would help pay for the Sparkle in the Park festival held a fortnight ago in Charlton Park, which tender documents reveal cost £190,000.
Matt Hartley, the borough’s Conservative opposition leader, said at last week’s council meeting: “I’ve been asked by officers not to share that figure publicly on the grounds of the council’s commercial confidentiality agreement with Universal Pictures, and I will obviously respect that request, but value that this company got from this promotion was far in excess of what they paid to the council.”
He added: “Could I ask the leader of the council to personally look into this to make sure there’s a framework in place to drive the hardest bargain possible, to make sure the council isn’t selling the borough’s brand too cheaply, and that the council really maximises value for the taxpayer if we’re going to continue to do these corporate partnerships.”
Okereke said Hartley’s views were “a shame”.
“We partnered with Universal on a film that was coming up that was really popular,” he said.
“It’s unquantifiable the interest that it brought to Greenwich, the fact that visitors were coming here to explore those fantastic signs, and the impact it had for businesses.
“Actually we’re partnering with global organisations that are able to bring more people and more trade to the borough. So I think what it brought to Greenwich was very good actually. We will continue to work with our residents in their best interests ,like we always do.”
Labour councillors greeted Okereke’s comments with a “hear, hear”.
The Greenwich Wire will be appealing against the council’s refusal to disclose how much it received from the “GreenWitch” takeover. The council waited until this Wednesday, the 20th working day after the website made its request and the last permissible day by law, to issue its response.
The council refused the request on the grounds of commercial confidentiality and claimed that public funds had not been spent on the takeover.
Greenwich University and Greenwich Market also took part in the promotion. The university said “we have not and will not be paid” for taking part, while Greenwich Hospital – the government-backed naval charity that owns the market – refused to answer the request, saying it was not covered by freedom of information laws.
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