Richmond Council has not been able to encourage community groups to publicise events on recently installed notice boards.

Critics said the council wasted money on the 16 notice boards, which were not being used properly.

Ward councillor for Ham, Liberal Democrat Sue Jones, campaigned for a year for a notice board in Ham Parade, to help community groups advertise events and activities, but after it was installed in April it filled up with adverts which did not relate to the area.

The council admitted it was struggling to get notices in some of the areas that had not had a notice board before.

Coun Jones, who complained to the council about the lack of local notices, said: “I want to see local organisations and local events given as much publicity as possible.

“This ought to be done through the new local notice boards.

“But the council’s centralised bureaucratic system means this isn’t happening, despite all the money that’s been spent.”

There are currently 16 notices on display on the Ham notice board, two of which relate to Ham and Petersham, while the others are notes from the council and from Age UK or adverts for events in Twickenham, Teddington, Barnes, Whitton and Kew.

A Richmond Council spokesman said: “In Ham we have used the council website, local newspaper and ward members to promote the boards.

“However, as yet none of the local groups has submitted any publicity to display.

“Local information is always given priority over events in other areas. However, we can’t display what we don’t have.

“Rather that have empty boards, we are filling the gaps with information from other areas of the borough.”

Local groups who want to publicise their work should visit richmond.gov.uk/community_noticeboards.