Urban regeneration company Sheffield One has merged with yet another local quango after critics accused it of failing to live up to its brief of revitalising the city's economy.

Despite its apparent failure, the company has now produced 750 copies of a glossy brochure trumpeting its "achievements" which have been sent out to its stakeholders at £31 a copy.

The publicly funded brochure – from a body which no longer exists – is meant to outline the company's efforts to stimulate economic growth over the last seven years.

It is the latest "quango" row to hit Sheffield, following the promotion of an "Inclusion and Cosmopolitan Board" in the city which spent £50,000 on a new manager despite having a budget of only £20,000.

Liberal Democrat opposition councillors in Labour-run Sheffield have slammed what they say is a waste of £23,000 of taxpayers' money on publishing the brochures.

Liberal Democrat leader Paul Scriven said: "I'm all for promoting Sheffield but there are better ways to spend taxpayers' money than this.

"The huge cost of producing this document cannot be justified.

"It beggars belief that these bodies who spend public money can get away with a blatant waste of money like this."

Sheffield One disappeared after the city council admitted it had not met its aims. It was swallowed up by the new "super" quango, Creative Sheffield, another regeneration company.

The new organisation is looking to employ a chief executive on an annual salary of £150,000.

Coun Scriven, a former director of Sheffield One said: "The Sheffield One brochures are promoting an organisation which did not succeed in transforming the city's economy.

"The bottom line is that it hasn't delivered what was being suggested. It has spent millions of public money in the process and was not accountable to any one citizen of Sheffield."

Now the Liberal Democrats are calling for such quangos to come under the same scrutiny as any other body spending public money.

Coun Scriven said: "The Sheffield One document is basically about giving themselves a pat on the back. It hasn't got much to do with attracting new investors to our city.

"This taxpayers' money would have been better spent on advertising Sheffield or providing a decent tourist information service.

"It is clear there must be greater controls over quangos which spend local taxpayers' money without any regard for value for money."

Sheffield One was launched in 2000 as one of three urban regeneration companies in England. It was a partnership between Sheffield City Council, the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and English Partnerships.

It developed a city centre masterplan for Sheffield, coming up with a "Magnificent Seven" of projects taking up to 15 years to improve the city's economy.

Creative Sheffield calls itself the UK's first city development company.

Launched on April 20, it is responsible for raising Sheffield's profile, helping regeneration and attracting inward investment.

Sheffield One chief executive Andy Topley said the £31 cost was "excellent value" because the brochures reflected the "impressive transformation" achieved in the last seven years.

"The £31 is less than a quarter of the cost of a return fare to London to see each person who we need to influence," he said.

"The brochure has already more than paid for itself because the response to it from our target organisations has been so positive."