Removal of requirement to publicise Planning Notices in local newspapers

This House recognises that local and regional newspapers, in print and digital form, reach 40.6 million people each week across the UK; notes that they perform vital democratic functions by nurturing debate, investigating local issues and running powerful campaigns that foster community identity and hold vested interests to account; considers that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government proposals to remove the statutory requirement to publicise planning applications in local newspapers would make the planning process less transparent, less accountable and less democratic; and therefore urges the Government to recognise that local newspapers have the trust of the public and are best placed to distribute and publicise impartial factual details about planning applications in the form of planning notices.