Cr Monica Morse has joined Cr Alex Christian in publicly criticising the new logo, saying it does not properly represent the region.

It’s also come to light that the contentious “Forever Young” tagline that accompanies the logo was previously used as part of a tourism promotion for New Zealand.

Cr Morse was disappointed councillors had not been consulted on the new logo and called for council to dump it and start again.

“I don’t think this is a case of just making the most of it, I don’t think people will accept it,” she said.

“Usually when you commission something like this the client is given three options to look but that wasn’t the case here. We were just told this is it.”

Cr Morse also took issue with “Forever Young”, saying it failed to highlight anything unique about Bathurst.

“We can’t move away from the fact that Mount Panorama is what people worldwide associate with Bathurst,” she said.

“Yes, we’re very proud of our heritage but the tourist figures don’t show us that people are coming here to walk down Piper Street and say ‘what a nice house’.”

Bathurst man Stuart Pearson has also weighed into the debate, telling councillors at last week’s meeting that they should be starting over to find a new logo and tagline.

He said New Zealand’s $30 million Forever Young campaign that started in 2007 had won a “trophy cabinet full of international awards” because it was based on something unique – the country’s young land mass.

“Bathurst may be Forever Young, constantly reinventing itself, but that is hardly unique,” Mr Pearson said.

“Every city around the world is constantly growing, developing and adapting to change.

“So why develop a brand that says, essentially, ‘We’re constantly changing – just like every other city on the planet’?

“In comparison, New Zealand’s campaign was unique, because it in fact the youngest land mass in the world and, therefore, will remain forever young.”

Mr Pearson said branding was about “combining all the elements of customer service, product performance, attitudes, logos and advertising into one great perception of value”.

“As the owners of the intellectual property (of the logo), I would urge council to urgently and seriously consider not using it,” he said.

“It would be better scrapping the proposed tourism brand and starting again from first principles.

“Find something unique about Bathurst and work from there.”