WYCOMBE District Council has bought an advertising feature in Friday's Bucks Free Press to set out its position on plans for a community stadium.

The council has paid for a three-page advertisement outlining its standing on the stadium plan, which will be wrapped around tomorrow's edition of the Free Press.

In a statement, the council said: “Given the extensive public interest in the Wycombe community stadium and sports project, we wanted to communicate directly with local residents and Bucks Free Press readers as soon as possible, in our own words, about the next stage of the project following the cabinet meeting this week...”

The authority said it was grateful to the BFP for agreeing to run the advert.

And the council added: “While the advertorial is not a legal requirement, we are committed to keeping people informed about this project.”

But the leader of the Wycombe district Liberal Democrats Cllr Steve Guy questioned the council's decision to use public money to fund the advert.

Cllr Guy, while stating he had not seen the council's advert, said: “I shall be asking how much the council has paid for that at the next council meeting.

“I don't blame the Bucks Free Press for taking the money. If the council offers to pay for it, the BFP is a commercial organisation and perfectly entitled to take it.

“But as a councillor, with all the cut-backs and in this economic climate, is it a proper use of the council's money to advertise its position? I would argue it isn't.

“If they want to spend money on publicity for something useful, like guidelines on how to deal with seasonal flu or something, then fair enough.

“But I don't like the idea of spending council money promoting the council's position when it's not reflecting the position of all of the councillors.”

Andrew Parkes, Group Managing Editor for Newsquest South & West London division - the BFP's parent company - said: “The Bucks Free Press is bound to accept any advertisement, providing, of course, it meets the conditions set by the Advertising Standards Authority.

“It would be wrong for any newspaper to refuse to take a legal, decent advert that complied with the ASA’s Code.

“Indeed, if the BFP did reject such an advert it could easily be argued that by doing so the newspaper had surrendered the position of neutrality, which all BFP staff hold so dear.”

* The Free Press will be running its own independent survey into the controversial stadium proposals in Friday's paper.

It will also be included in the next edition of The Star and run on the BFP's website from Friday.