DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT CONSULTATION ADVERTISING

That this House is aware that currently the Department of Transport is conducting a consultation asking whether local authorities, the Highways Agency, utility companies and other relevant service industries should be allowed to advertise traffic regulation orders in areas other than in local newspapers; notes that according to market-based evidence, no other medium has the same reach as local press, with it constantly out-performing all other media outlets who are in the business of providing information to the general public; believes that if such a change is agreed it will lead to these and other bodies simply using cheaper options such as their own website, or other cheaper methods which will undermine the stability of the local press and inevitably cause the supply, style and visibility of public information to be seriously detrimentally affected.