Caroline Spelman, Shadow
Secretary for Local Government and Communities, has raised concerns over the growing cost and anti-competitive pressures of town hall publicity.
Speaking to the Commission on the Future of Community News, she outlined why local media outlets are so important to local communities.
"Local newspapers are being driven out of business because they
haven’t got the resources to compete with council publications", she said. "If communities are going to scrutinise newly empowered local government, they must have the tools to do it".
To tackle the problem, Spelman affirmed Conservative pledges for tougher rules on town hall publicity spending, and the liberalisation of local government data for commercial and voluntary use.
She also said that a Conservative Government would ask councils to "take another look at their publications
and question if they are going beyond their remit". The Local Authority Publicity code would also be reviewed, "with a view to
tightening it up".
Spelman made a distinction between "council publications listing important information about council activity" and "taxpayer-funded council newspapers with TV listings, sports reports and theatre reviews".
"Local newspapers deserve to compete on equal terms", she said, especially as we are in an age "where the appetite for independent political scrutiny is greater than ever".