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A cash-strapped London council spent £86,000 on a re-brand including a new logo that locals claim looks like it could have been “made by a child”.

The council is spending the money in a bid to create an identity that “communicates who we are today”, despite only adopting their last logo eight years ago.

While planning £70 million of cuts, including to services for vulnerable people, a bizarre pitch in council papers argues the re-branding is needed to show Haringey is “more than just a place. It is an attitude.”

The new logo was leaked to the Standard today, though the council has refused to confirm it is the final design.

It consists of the word “Haringey” in a quirky red font and replaces a logo adopted in 2007 alluding to Alexandra Palace’s broadcasting heritage.

A launch is planned for Monday at the start of a campaign seeking to promote the borough’s core values, one of which will be stated as: “We spend taxpayer money as carefully as we would our own.”

Some £20,000 of the budget is being spent on a film promoting the borough’s strengths.

The controversy comes after Haringey hiked cabinet members’ special allowances by an inflation-busting 6.6 per cent in May.

On its website the borough complains central government cut its budget by £117 million since 2010, with a further £70 million coming down the line.

Tottenham Hale resident Martin Bell, 48, said: “It’s disgusting for the council to waste money on branding at a time when it’s cutting vital services for vulnerable people.

“The logo looks like it was made by a child with a marker pen.”

A document justifying the re-branding includes a string of sections opening “I am in because…” with the final one reading: “I am in, because Haringey is much more than just a place. It’s an attitude. Are you in?”

In a pre-launch statement Councillor Joe Goldberg, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Social Inclusion, said: “The new brand identity is there to tell Haringey’s true story, and foremost to tell the stories of the people who live and work here.”

The council was consumed by the tragic Baby P scandal when in 2007 17-month-old Peter Connelly died from horrific injuries caused by his mother, her boyfriend and the boyfriend’s brother. He had more than 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health workers and being on the at-risk register.