The new Public Notice Portal (PNP) consultation function enables members of the public to have their say by providing feedback on individual public notices, which can be accessed by local authorities through a bespoke PNP account dashboard, designed to boost the consultation process.
The dashboard will also give the local authorities and other businesses the means to add data – maps, images, and other information which may be useful to the public - to consultations, strengthening the process still further.
Conducted over the past 18 months by Reach plc, the development was funded by a six-figure grant from the Google News Initiative and continuing support from local publishers. A fully searchable archive of all the public notices on the PNP has also been created.
Newsquest chief executive Henry Faure Walker said: “We are pleased that the recent Local Media Action Plan from the government explicitly referenced the PNP as a key platform for communities to access public notices, leveraging local publishers’ huge audiences.
“With new funding from the Google News Initiative, we have worked hard over the past 18 months to develop new services for the PNP, which will deepen public engagement with the notices and make consultation easier for local authorities and other organisations.
“All this work depends upon a strong statutory link between public notices and local news media environments. It is vital that this link is maintained and strengthened going forward, for the benefit of local communities.”
To promote the new PNP consultation and archive services to local communities, a major advertising campaign funded by local publishers launches today in local news titles across the UK.
Hayley Cochrane, director of news partnerships for Google UK and Northern Europe, said: “We are very pleased to support the development of new features for the PNP, which will strengthen local democratic engagement
“PNP is a fantastic example of innovation from the local news sector, which is finding new ways to serve audiences with local news and information. The Google News Initiative is very pleased to support this important work.”
The PNP is an online database for all public notices which appear in printed local newspapers. It harnesses local news media’s massive online audiences – 42 million people every month in print and digital – to deepen engagement with public notices.
News Media Association chief executive Theo Bamber said: "Local news media serve communities by protecting the public’s right to know. These titles ensure that vital information about local decisions remains transparent, visible, and open to scrutiny by professional journalists and the public alike.
“The new features on the PNP make the workings of local government more accessible than ever, upholding critical elements of the UK's social and democratic fabric at a time when this kind of transparency is under threat."
The number of PNP registered users - who have signed up for alerts about particular types of planning notices, notices relating to a specific geographic area, or to search the site directly - has nearly doubled over the past year and now stands at 43,000.
In addition to creating the PNP, the local news media sector has also boosted public notices by adopting new guidelines to better publicise public notices, including regular editorial coverage in print and digital, and clear signposting in paper.
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