The Society of Editors has said it is ‘deeply concerned’ by government plans to scrap the requirement for local licensing applications to be published in local newspapers.
The plans, set out in an interview with the Chancellor Rachel Reeves in The Mail on Sunday yesterday (27 July 2025), form part of an effort by the government to cut red tape on planning rules for al fresco dining and include proposals to remove ‘the outdated rule that means [a business] needs to advertise in locally printed press when applying for a licence’.
Responding to the plans, Dawn Alford, Chief Executive of the Society of Editors said that while the Society supports efforts by the government to boost the hospitality industry and high street, plans to remove licensing application notices from local newspapers fail to recognise the essential role that such a requirement plays in ensuring the public’s right to know is fulfilled.
She said: “By publishing applications in local newspapers and online through the industry’s Public Notice Portal, local residents are not only made aware of what is being proposed in their community but allows them the opportunity to take part in the democratic process of determining whether an application should be granted.”
Public notices not only provide a vital revenue stream for the local media, Alford said, but also ensure that hard-to-reach communities are kept informed of plans in their community and boost public engagement.
She added: “While the award-winning Public Notice Portal has rightly been recognised as a tool which has strengthened local democracy by deepening public engagement with notices, notice of applications in newspapers has the effect of ensuring they are seen by a wider audience and that hard to reach communities and those that rely on traditional media are kept abreast of important matters of public interest. Removing such a requirement will not only have a detrimental effect on the public’s right to know but it will also disenfranchise communities at a time when many already feel that their voice is not being heard.”
Calling on the government to reconsider its plans, Alford said that they were at odds with government recognition of the vital role the local media plays.
She added: “The government has spoken of the importance of the local media and has pledged to publish a Local Media Strategy aimed at ensuring that “people in every town, city and village can access trust in news that reflects their lives as reserves better, helping them to hold local public services to account”. At a time when the government is meeting with news representatives to discuss the Local Media Strategy and what support for the sector could look like, the removal of notice applications appears massively at odds and contrary to the government’s recognition of the vital role the local media plays.”
