Local press wins fight to keep £20m traffic ads

The Newspaper Society and local press have won the fight to keep millions of pounds of advertising after the Government announced that proposals to remove the requirement for Traffic Regulation Orders to be advertised by councils in local newspapers are to be abandoned.

Responding to a question in the House of Commons, 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.

Baker told the Commons that a a clear majority of responses from local government were in favour of the proposed change  and the matter would be kept "under review".

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."

• The NS published research last April backing its campaign for the local press tpo keep the traffic ads.