Council leaders are calling for changes in ‘outdated’ legislation that requires authorities to pay for planning notices to be advertised in local newspapers.

The Local Government Association claims the law will cost councils £200M over the next five years, money it says could be used to fund the construction of over 2,000 councils homes or pay the salaries of an additional 3,000 care workers.

LGA research shows that an average council will have to pay its local newspaper £105,000 per year to print public notices which are routinely published online and circulated in council newsletters.

Last year alone, one large local authority had to pay out £608,000 to meet its legal duty to advertise statutory notices.

The LGA argues that the rules predate the Internet, and that councils, in consultation with residents, should be able to decide how best to keep people informed, particularly in the face of budgets cuts due to be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review later this week.

Current rules mean that council tax payers are ‘propping up’ the newspaper industry to the tune of £40 million per, the association said.

Publishers, meanwhile, have lobbied against the rise of council ‘newspapers’ which actively compete for local advertising revenues. Ministers have subsequently published draft code on council publicity and lobbying that would limits the scope of these publications. 

‘The Government has already instructed town halls to save money by advertising job vacancies online rather than in the press.’ Baroness Margaret Eaton, Chairman of the LGA said.

‘It is contradictory to then force councils to continue the expensive and unnecessary practice of paying millions of pounds per year to advertise planning notices.

’It is important that these statutory notices are accessible to as many people as possible but in this day and age councils can reach far more people for a fraction of the cost by putting the information online or distributing it directly.”

The LGA believes that local newspapers serve a vital democratic role in their areas and act as the lifeblood of local communities.

It adds that many councils work alongside and support their regional and local newspapers through the outsourced printing of fliers and supplements, joint work to organise community events and by promoting local newspapers on council literature.

A total of 204 local authorities responded to the LGA survey conducted over August and September this year. Of those, 49 provided figures for the amount spent on advertising statutory notices. The average spent by a local authority on advertising statutory notices each year was £105,000. The highest amount spent was £608,000. Three councils spent between £400,000 and £475,000, one each spent £300,000, £250,000 and £200,000, five spent in excess of £100,000 and five spent exactly £100,000.