The Government recently announced that proposals to remove the requirement for Traffic Regulation Orders to be advertised in local newspapers are to be abandoned following a strong campaign against the changes by the Newspaper Society and the industry.
Responding to a question in the House of Commons on Thursday 7 February, Transport Minister Norman Baker said "a clear majority of responses from MPs and local newspapers" had been against any change which the NS believes would have posed a dangerous threat to the public right to know, and could have cost the industry an estimated £20 million a year.
The NS said: "The Government has rightly abandoned the proposals to remove Traffic Regulation Orders from local papers which could have resulted in important information being hidden from public view. The outcome of this consultation has again demonstrated that local papers are the most effective medium to communicate public notices and that the public wish for them to remain there.
"The Home Office, which is currently consulting on dropping mandatory local newspaper advertising of applications for alcohol licences, should take note of this outcome and the outcome of similar consultations in recent years relating to planning notices and traffic notices in Wales."