Communities secretary, Eric Pickles has launched a pilot to find new ways of getting essential information to the public.
He called on councils, local papers and others to look for new ways and new technology to bring statutory notices into the 21st century.
The Government is asking for councils, local papers and others to pilot different ways to get information to the public.
Pickles said: ‘How we consume information has drastically changed with advances in technology. Statutory notices need to change too. But previously, there has been a sterile debate based on a binary choice of the total retention or total abolition of requirements to publish notices in local newspapers.
‘Instead, we are inviting councils, newspapers and others to pilot innovative ways of improving statutory notices.
‘We want to see how statutory notices can be better published and marketed through the likes of pooled notices in newspapers, improved procurement, digital advertising and location-specific mobile technology.
‘We are committed to supporting an independent free press, and to ensuring that local taxpayers are better informed about council decisions that affect their lives.’
