HOW do you get more for less? Staff at Fenland District Council think they have the answer.

By cutting bureaucracy and red tape which preoccupies so many councils around Britain, services can run better and staff can work smarter.

Council staff wanted to share the improvements made at Fenland with authorities from right across the country at the annual Local Government Association meeting earlier this month. They produced some short video clips to draw attention to the campaign.

One staff member who helped film the striking clips in her lunch hour said: “The challenge was how to get the message over to local authorities. We needed something that would grab the attention of council bureaucrats so we decided to get together one lunchtime and film a couple of spoof video clips. We also had some handouts with a more serious message and ideas on how to cut through red tape.

“Staff wanted to give up their lunch hours to make these clips because they feel proud of the way we do things differently here.”

One of the spoof clips is an advert for a magazine called Bureaucracy Weekly and another highlights the day-to-day dreariness of Dullsville Council in a short video called Council of the Living Dead.

A spokesman said: “Our message to other councils is focus more on customer service and less on bureaucracy. It’s time to think differently - stop the memos, stop the red tape, and focus on your people”.