DORSET Council had to amend its name on Facebook slightly because a local authority in Tasmania already has a Dorset Council page.

Councillors were told on Monday that the 'Dorset Council' name was already in use by an authority in Tasmania and Facebook has said that neither Dorset Council or Dorset Council UK is acceptable for the new council's pages.

The new council’s Facebook handle is @DorsetCouncilUK but the page name is Dorset Council for you.

Councillors at Monday's shadow Dorset Council overview and scrutiny said that they had difficulty in finding the new authority on Facebook – although they had several sites which were critical of the new council.

Communications team manager Jen Lowis admitted the situation was 'not ideal' and that trying to talk to a human being from Facebook had, so far, proved impossible, but she added that she was confident the situation would reach a successful conclusion, eventually.

The issue was raised during a discussion about the new council's communication strategy which most councillors welcomed although one, Cllr Shane Bartlett, said his experience had been that parish and town councillors were disappointed about what they were being told.

“It is not the fault of the officers. A lead should have come from the members...but it has been a disappointment,” he said.

Shadow council leader Cllr Rebecca Knox defended the communications strategy which, she said, had tried to reach out to everybody, including sending a regular newsletter to town and parish councils. She added that existing councillors all had a role to play in spreading the word about the new council and what it hopes to achieve.

Said Cllr Ray Bryant: “I'm personally happy with the communications but what I suspect is happening is that there are many on town and parish councils who are expecting too much at this stage.

“There was a belief about what services would be passed down, but that has yet to be decided,” he said.

Weymouth councillor Kevin Brookes said his reading of the criticisms was that the county's association for town and parish councils had become critical because it felt it was owed a greater say in decision making: “Perhaps they are a bit miffed at not being involved high enough up in the decision making food chain.”