As reported by the Newspaper Society: At a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday, MPs roundly condemned the Home Office plans saying they would not save the taxpayer any money and could lead to residents being kept in the dark about controversial applications for licensed premises in their communities.
Leading the debate, Gordon Henderson, Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP, Conservative, said: “The Government are determined to cut alcohol-fuelled crime and antisocial behaviour, which is a highly laudable aim that I support. However, I find it hard to understand how reducing the alcohol industry’s requirement to get licences meets the aims of the Home Office’s policy of reducing the harmful effect of alcohol abuse on society.
“How will scrapping the statutory requirement to advertise alcohol licence applications in our local newspapers help ensure that those who sell alcohol are right and proper people to do so?
“How will loosening the current regulations ensure that we clamp down on the sale of alcohol to minors? How can the community find out about new licensed premises in their area or, even more importantly, applications for longer licensing hours, if they do not have access to the internet? The answer to that last question is their local newspaper.”
Mr Henderson highlighted “a real digital divide, in that 11 per cent of adults in Britain still do not have access to the internet” which would that people would miss seeing the notices adding that notices posted on a premises would depend on the person wishing to read the notice knowing that it is there in the first place.
Mr Henderson said: “The Newspaper Society estimates that the proposal could cost the already struggling local press industry between £6.2 million and £7.9 million a year. The Leveson report recognised that many local newspapers are no longer financially viable, but local newspapers report on stories such as local politics, occurrences in local courts, local events, local sports and the like, all of which would be thought too parochial to be reported by national or even regional media.”
He went on to say that the cost of the ads was “not a great burden on the businesses” adding: “It might be argued that the proposal would save taxpayers’ money. Fewer people will object to the proposed nightclub because they will not know it is proposed, which will save councils’ time. However, that is a rather cynical view, and not what the Government are aiming for. Indeed, the Government profess to want the public to be more involved with local decisions.”
Gareth Johnson, MP for Dartford, Conservative, added: “As the cost of these notices is not picked up by the taxpayer, there is no downside for the taxpayer in having such notices. Quite clearly, though, there is a huge downside for the taxpayer and the whole local community if newspapers such as the Dartford Messenger are not supported and therefore go out of business.”
Mr Henderson went on to highlight Communities Secretary Eric Pickles’ pledge made at a Newspaper Conference lunch in December last year to keep public notices in local papers for the duration of this Parliament adding that removing the notices would “erode the public right to know, and will damage local democracy.”
Diana Johnson, Kingston upon Hull North MP, Labour, said: “Research by GfK conducted on behalf of the Newspaper Society showed that the weekly reach of local newspapers was 67 per cent of the population, compared with just 8 per cent for local council websites, and, as has already been pointed out, many parts of communities do not have access to the internet."
She cited applications for lap dancing clubs in Hull which attracted widespread objections from the community after notices and a news article ran in the Hull Daily Mail. She described the process as “a proper dialogue, which informed local people and demonstrated the value of local papers.”
She concluded: “It is important to consider the effect that this measure will have on local newspapers. The Government’s own impact assessment estimates that it will cost the industry up to £8 million in lost revenue. That is a big blow for an industry that is already struggling. A number of regional newspapers have had to close and many more are seeing their circulation fall to the point where they are on the verge of being unsustainable.
“There remains a huge demand for local newspapers and the unique role that they play in serving our communities. Given those facts, the Minister should rethink implementing a policy that will seriously damage an already struggling industry and that appears to go against everything else that the Government’s alcohol strategy is meant to achieve."
Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln, Conservative, said Mr Henderson was "speaking on behalf of not only thousands of his constituents, but certainly mine in Lincoln, and thousands of my colleagues’ constituents across Lincolnshire who are served by the Lincolnshire Echo, and who obviously have the same concerns?”
