WEST Somerset District Council has spent £4,000 on a re-branding exercise to drop a word from its title and replace its traditional stag logo with a green leaves design. Bristol-based consultants Four Marketing Group unveiled the results of their efforts to give the council a new image and new name at a special presentation to councillors on Wednesday - just three days before April Fools Day. In future, the authority will be called West Somerset Council, losing 'district' in a move apparently adopted by several similar councils across the country. Newly appointed media and PR officer Stacey Beaumont said the new logo was intended to supersede the "various confusing images" of the council and make the authority instantly recognisable. "Its 'new leaves' design emphasises growth and reflects the authority's modern progressive approach to local government," said Ms Beaumont. "It's in line with modern thinking and is less cumbersome visually." But according to critic Cllr Mike Gammon, who represents Dulverton, most councillors were fairly unimpressed with the new image when it was presented to them. "It's so laughable it's almost unbelievable," Cllr Gammon told the Free Press yesterday (Thursday). "Councillors have had no input into this re- branding - we have just had it sprung on us. "We were simply told what it would be and given no chance to influence it at all. "I have no problem with change because things change every day. "But I do have a problem wasting money on something which is entirely unnecessary. "I am pretty certain that the majority of Council Tax payers could not care two hoots about the authority's logo - all they care about is the services provided and whether the council is doing its job properly. "I'm beginning to wonder if this is just an April Fool." Although the consultants' costs have been funded with money received from the Improvement and Development Agency - I&DeA - Cllr Gammon said council chief executive Tim Howes had been unable to tell him what the total cost would be of incorporating the new image on stationery, vehicles, signs and anything else. When the search for a new image was revealed earlier this month, Cllr Gammon devised his own version of a replacement logo, depicting a tortoise surrounded by mushrooms. The slow tortoise was intended to represent the authority itself while councillors were the mushrooms - cultivated on manure and left in the dark. Cllr Gammon said he had shown his version to the Four Marketing consultants at the presentation. "They actually thought it was very good and even offered me a job." Ms Beaumont confirmed that the company had been given a brief on what the council hoped to achieve in the rebranding. She said the I&DeA had described the council's current "documentation" as inconsistent and had recommended a single corporate image. "Four Marketing decided we needed one solid image," she said. The new logo should appear on the council's website shortly and in e-communications. Ms Beaumont said the current branding would be phased out in stationery as it needed re-stocking and, similarly, signs and vehicle branding would be updated as necessary to avoid additional costs.