Government Rejects Plans to Scrap Planning Notice Advertising
Plans to abolish the statutory obligation to publish planning notices in local newspapers in England were rejected by the Government this week following a fierce campaign by the NS and its members. If the recommendation, from the Killian Pretty Review in 2008, had been adopted, it could have paved the way for all statutory notices to be withdrawn from local newspapers, seriously undermining the public’s right to know.
The announcement from Housing and Planning Minister John Healey was part of a package of measures aimed at streamlining the planning system and driving down costs. Although the Government had identified £12.5 million in potential savings on planning notices in England (and £15 million across the UK), it confirmed that the rules requiring local planning authorities to place planning notices in local newspapers will not change, in order to ensure the local community continues to be alerted to planning proposals affecting them.
As well as advertising in local papers, local authorities will be required to publish information about planning applications on their websites and to extend the statutory period for display of site notices on certain applications.
Local authorities had pressed hard for the abolition of statutory planning notice advertising on the grounds of cost, with 78 local planning authorities responding to the consultation in support of the proposal. The newspaper industry was joined by members of the public and community groups in opposing the plans. Concerns were raised over access to planning notices for those without internet access, threats to community cohesion and democracy, and whether local authorities could be trusted with additional flexibility on publicising planning applications.
“It is clear from the responses that some members of the public and community groups rely on the statutory notices in newspapers to learn about planning applications in their area. The Government is not convinced that good alternative arrangements can be readily rolled out,” said the Government in its response.
In its summary of concerns raised, it added: “A range of views were presented to the consultation indicating that statutory notices in newspapers are an effective means of publicity which should be retained. This was supported by research outlining the current reach of local newspapers and of the importance people place upon reading statutory notices.”
The NS has always made clear the importance of publishing statutory notices in independent local newspapers, unconnected with the local authority and any of its publications. Politicians have been highly critical in the past year of what have been described as ‘propaganda sheets masquerading as newspapers,’ run and funded by councils, which compete with the independent press for readers and advertisers. However, the industry has yet to see the results of the Digital Britain initiatives intended to investigate and address this problem.
- Planning notices must appear in local papers, government rules
- Council ads move does not tackle ‘propaganda sheets’
- London MP blasts council newspapers (Early Day Motion)
For further information please contact Lynne Anderson on 020 7632 7421 or e-mail lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.
‘Spin’ Claims as Stoke City Council Looks to Double Investment in Council Newspaper
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is looking at increasing the frequency of its council newspaper and putting all of its statutory notices into the title despite protests from councillors who have branded it as “yet more spin”.
The move from bi-monthly to monthly publication would see the council’s £192,000 annual production and distribution costs for Our City almost double, The Sentinel reported last week.
The council claim that a saving would be made but preliminary figures have been slammed as “inaccurate”.
City Independent councillor Ann James said: “Many people in the city are already disillusioned with the council, and they will see this as yet more spin.
“People will still just put it in the bin without reading it.
“Those who are interested in local news go out and buy The Sentinel.”
Non-Aligned Group spokesman Mick Salih added: “I have some very serious concerns about whether this £147,000 is achievable.
“We have seen these figures in the budget before and they have turned out to be inaccurate.
“I think the council running a newspaper would be a step in the wrong direction and I will not be supporting it.”
For further information please contact Paul Sinker on 020 763 27424 or sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk.
New Consortium for Wales IFNC Pilot
Local media publishers are part of a new consortium to announce a bid for the independently funded news consortia pilot in Wales, Media Guardian reported.
The consortium, named Taliesin, includes the publishers Northcliffe Media, Newsquest and Tindle Newspapers.
It is headed by GMTV chairman Clive Jones, and consists of an alliance between ITN, ITV Wales, and the local media publishers.
Trinity Mirror has announced its Media Wales division will be bidding for the pilot and, separately, NWN Media has formed a partnership with broadcaster UTV.
For further information please contact Paul Sinker at sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk or 020 763 27424.
NS and Society of Editors to Meet ACPO
The Newspaper Society and the Society of Editors will meet Andy Trotter, chair of the ACPO Media Advisory Group (MAG) and chief constable of British Transport Police, on 14 January.
They will discuss the ACPO MAG guidance notes, as well as a number of other issues that have arisen recently.
These include the requirement by some Forces to sign indemnity forms when accompanying the police on raids, the confiscation of cameras and film and coverage of public order events.
Please let Catherine Courtney know if there are particular issues or concerns that you would like raised at the meeting.
For further information please contact Catherine Courtney on 020 7632 7465 or e-mail catherine_courtney@newspapersoc.org.uk.
NS Meets With COI Chiefs
The NS met with senior executives at the Central Office of Information, the UK’s largest advertiser, for a local media update on Tuesday.
The session with Peter Buchanan, COI deputy chief executive, and Mark Cross, communications planning director, led to discussion on how COI can use the power of local media even more effectively for its public sector clients.
Robert Ray, NS marketing director, covered off key NS initiatives including the wanted ads, Local Matters, case studies and Locally Connected, also giving an overview of cross-platform usage of local media and examples of how other national advertisers are developing locally-tailored creative messaging.
The meeting follows on from a dinner with COI’s senior management team led by chief executive Mark Lund earlier in the autumn, attended by senior publishers and the NS.
Once the COI has appointed a new single media buying agency following its current pitch, the COI and NS will arrange a briefing session with the agency and senior national sales chiefs to maximise industry-level understanding of how best to work with COI’s new agency structure.
The NS is also hosting local media update sessions for media agency research heads.
This morning (Thursday), NS marketing director Robert Ray was set to brief research directors from London agencies including MPG, Universal McCann, Mindshare, OMD, AE Volve (Aegis) and ZenithOptimedia on NS activities and projects such as Locally Connected.
For further information please contact Robert Ray on 020 7632 7441 or e-mail robert_ray@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Government to Announce Decision on Newspaper Planning Ads
The Government is expected to announce the outcome of its consultation on publicity for planning applications, which recommended removing the mandatory requirement for local authorities to publish statutory notices in newspapers, within a week.
Giving evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee last week, Minister for the Creative Industries Siôn Simon said the Department for Communities and Local Government would make an announcement “fairly imminently”.
The NS raised concerns with government ministers on numerous occasions after the consultation paper, based on the recommendations of the Killian Pretty Review (a wide-ranging review of the planning application process), was published in November last year.
It included a recommendation to withdraw the mandatory requirement for local authorities to place statutory notices in newspapers which the NS said would have the effect of “undermining the public’s right to know”.
At the select committee last week, Mr Simon said: “The DCLG are just about to say what they are going to do about that, I think, fairly imminently. Let us see what that says. Newspaper people are hopeful that they might get some succour from that.”
Giving evidence to the committee, Mr Simon also spoke about independently funded news consortia, stating that £20 million would be available across three pilots for a minimum of two years, with an option to extend to three.
Speaking about council newspapers, he said: “We all understand why it is an issue; it can get, indeed, heated; some people understandably get very annoyed by these local free sheets.
“The only thing I would say in mitigation of the irritation that many people experience is that, clearly, local authorities do have a duty to communicate with their citizens what they are doing, and clearly they also have a duty to do that in the way that gets the best value and the best price for the taxpayer.
“That does not mean that they should be given carte blanche to do it in a way that distorts and destructs the market and undermines local newspapers, and certainly they should not be doing it in a way which is propagandist in tone.”
He said he believed the Audit Commission was to confirm that it was going ahead with a study into the public value of local authorities’ communications spend. Mr Simon urged the commission to “get on and do their report that they promised”.
For more information please contact Lynne Anderson on 020 7632 7421 or email lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Manchester Media Agencies Shown Locally Connected
The NS visited Manchester this week to present Locally Connected, the UK’s first integrated print and online audience currency, to two media agencies.
Robert Ray, NS marketing director, and Steve Brown, NS intelligence manager, presented the planning tool to a number of media specialists at MediaVest Manchester and Mediaedge:cia on Monday.
Cherry Jackson, director/head of press, Mediaedge:cia, Manchester, said: “Locally Connected is a simple, easy to use system that enables us to understand the readership of both on and offline properties.
“We will definitely use it, and it will be especially useful to assess penetration of all properties within a defined area, enabling us to quantify a combined deduplicated press and online audience.
“It’s increasingly important that we understand how on and offline products work together to deliver audience.”
Dean Highfield, MediaVest Manchester, added: “In the past, online has been presented by media owners as a simple add-on to regional press activity but with no reliable audience data to support the argument.
MediaVest were responsible for the planning/buying on a recent NS case study with Screwfix which targeted trades people across a number of UK locations and specific NS research around the retailer’s Barnstaple store after an ad campaign in the North Devon Gazette.
Dean added: “I believe Locally Connected will encourage clients to trust the multi-platform offering which is important as digital is an ever more necessary consideration.”
Following Locally Connected’s launch, the NS is now progressing the wanted ads Digital – a qualitative research study into engagement with local media online news services.
This is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of next year.
For further information please contact Robert Ray on 020 7632 7441 or e-mail robert_ray@newspapersoc.org.uk.
London MP Blasts Council Newspapers
A London MP has called for the Competition Commission and the Audit Commission to review the impact of council newspapers on independent local media.
Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, submitted an early day motion to parliament last week in which he cited the independence of local media as, “vitally important to proper scrutiny and accountability”.
The Lib Dem MP’s motion was, “concerned that local authority subsidy of news can create unfair competition, making local commercial media unviable and pose a threat to free speech.”
The motion said it, “believes that local and regional newspapers have a long track record of serving and being at the heart of their communities; notes that local media are widely acknowledged as the most trusted of all media.”
It added that it, “further believes that the requirement to place statutory notices with publications independent of the placing authority should be preserved; and calls on the Competition Commission and Audit Commission to review the impact of the growth of local authority funded newspapers on the local media market and free speech.”
Numbered 425, the motion is entitled Contribution of Regional and Local Newspapers.
For more information about council newspapers, click here.
For further information please contact Paul Sinker on 020 763 274 24 or sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Sainsbury’s Scoops Double Honours in Campaign Annual
A Sainsbury’s ad created by Minerva has been named the best regional press ad of the decade in Campaign’s 2009 annual.
The ad is for the supermarket’s store in Crystal Palace which shares its car park with Crystal Palace Football Club.
A different Sainsbury’s ad was also named regional press ad of the year by Campaign which this year published two sets of top 10 lists – one featuring the best ads from the past decade and one from the past year.
Featuring farmers from across the country, the Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO ad was part of a drive to raise awareness of Sainsbury’s efforts to support local produce.
Each year, advertising trade magazine Campaign publishes an annual with top 10 ads for different media.
The NS will mailshot copies of the winning selection to national advertisers early in the New Year.
For further information please contact Robert Ray on 020 7632 7441 or e-mail robert_ray@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Local Media Publishers to Bid for Wales IFNC Pilot
Trinity Mirror and NWN Media are to bid for the independently funded news consortia pilot in Wales.
Trinity Mirror’s Media Wales division will be bidding for the pilot, Hold the Front Page reported.
Trinity Mirror is also involved in a bid for the North East pilot with Press Association and TV production company Ten Alps.
NWN Media has formed a partnership with broadcaster UTV to apply for the pilot. Plans have already been outlined for Wales Live – a cross-platform news service for Wales delivering content for television, radio, newspaper and online services.
A website http://waleslive.tv/ has been set up for local people to give feedback on how the project should progress.
For further information please contact Paul Sinker at sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk or 020 763 27424.