AS readers may have noticed, local newspapers across the country have run the same front page cover calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and business secretary Peter Kyle to abandon proposals to shroud the sale of alcohol in local communities in secrecy.

Hundreds of weekly titles — including our own West Somerset Free Press and the Wellington Weekly News titles — are running the 'Defend Your Right to Know' half wrap. It’s aim is to highlight the local news sector's campaign against government proposals to remove the statutory requirement for alcohol licensing notices to be published in local newspapers. The plans are part of a wider review of the licensing regime in England and Wales.

Baylis Community Media chief executive and chair of the News Media Association's Independent Publishers Forum Jeremy Spooner said: "Alcohol licensing notices are not red tape; they are a means for local communities to engage meaningfully with plans to sell alcohol in their local area.

“Removing alcohol licensing notices from local papers will do absolutely nothing to help either pubs or papers – instead it will deal a hammer blow to local democratic engagement, just at a time when government is seeking to decentralise power from Westminster.

“There is still time for Ministers to abandon this ill-conceived plan and instead focus on pro-growth interventions that will deliver genuine benefits to the local British businesses which power our local economies.”

NMA chief executive Owen Meredith added: “Government is rightly striving for growth and seeking to support both the hospitality and media sectors. But many are braced for more difficult news in the upcoming Budget.

“Axing alcohol licensing notices will not unlock growth or address any of the problems the government is trying to solve. Instead, it will create a whole lot more. This government should stand up for local communities and show support for pubs and papers by keeping these crucial alcohol licensing notices in local papers.”

While at the moment these plans are merely a consultation, history tells us that more often than not, it’s a token listening exercise and they’ll go ahead with it anyway.

In its proposal to remove the requirement to advertise licence applications in newspapers, the government claims it is to ‘modernise’ the system.

What they haven’t paid heed to, however, is the fact that public notice advertising has already modernised.

The notices advertised in the printed newspapers are also put online via the Public Notice Portal, where the simple typing in of your postcode will give you all the applications relevant in your area. Increasingly, those notices are also forming the basis of reporting stories that matter to you, whether it is for alcohol licensing, planning or otherwise.

The government's plans risk shrouding local communities in secrecy. Readers are urged to respond to the licensing reform consultation which closes at midday next Thursday (November 6).

Every voice counts. To find out more or to have your say on these proposals visit: www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system