Forum Topic

The Ealing Gazette and Chiswick Residents

Just recently we have had two cases in which Chiswick residents living in the London Borough of Ealing weren't properly notified about major issues — the Bollo Lane development plans and the Bedford Park Surgery Planning Application. Notice of these would have appeared in the Ealing Gazette but this is no longer distributed in Chiswick so shouldn't the Council be insisting that the newspaper's publisher starts ensuring copies are available locally again?

Andrew OSullivan ● 2453d28 Comments

Not something that the council can insist upon. We face the same issue in Ealing.
The only place that I have seen a copy of The Gazette this year was in a dump bin outside Asda in Park Royal.

N V Brooks ● 2453d

I raised in relation to another planning application - local residents have to look hard to find information and from sources that many don't use regularly.  In Hounslow, finding ads in the Hounslow Chronicle required a phone call to the Chronicle whose advertising team couldn't tell me without referring to others.  It took more time than most can be bothered with; then, even with instructions, it was time consuming and irritating. Having access to information should not be so hard. It's as if it's designed to put us off.I then raised it with Hounslow council, adding that advertising in the London Gazette is also part of the problem - it's outdated and difficult.  This is a London-wide issue and I was told it is being looked at.  There should be some major improvements at some point but there is no date.

Joanna Biddolph ● 2453d

On what basis to you make the assertion that the Council could not insist on this matter? They are purchasing space in the newspaper for public notices. If the paper's distribution is insufficient for them to be sure that the requirements of the relevant legislation is not being met then that would be a breach of contract. That they could insist if they wanted to appears to be self-evident but they choose not to. The situation in Chiswick is, as far as I am aware unique. The Ealing Gazette isn't available anywhere in the entire postcode area of W4. It used to be possible to pick one up in what used to be the Murco garage on South Parade. I don't know about the rest of the borough but I think Acton W3 residents would have at least one distribution point outside Morrisons.

Andrew OSullivan ● 2453d

The Council simply can not insist where a paper is sold.
As long as the title meets the circulation figures (200 copies in a dump bin at Asda is 200 copies on the circulation figures even if 199 are subsequently recycled) then it is wholly down to the council to determine if the publication where they place their notices meets their needs and obligations.
Reach regional claim that the Ealing Gazette has an audited average circulation of 13140 copies weekly but this, of course, covers an area from Northolt and across the whole borough of Ealing and beyond. The chances of finding a copy are therefore pretty slim.
The Hounslow Chronicle is no more so you could ask LBH how they are meeting their obligations and auditing that these are met.
I am not at all sure that such public notices are a statutory requirement in many cases any longer.

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N V Brooks ● 2453d

I should, of course, have said that the Hounslow Chronicle no longer exists as a newspaper, It does have a, pretty poor, 'existence' as a series of links on the My London website and that is where a search for 'The Hounslow Chronicle' directs you.

N V Brooks ● 2453d

There is a statutory requirement to put most planning notices in a newspaper including the type that was needed for the Bedford Park Surgery plan.As Andrew says if the fall in the circulation of the Ealing Gazette rendered a public notice invalid that would be a breach of contract so the Council could and should insist on expanded circulation. The law doesn't specify exactly where the paper needs to be circulated other than 'locally'. Asda Park Royal would not meet that test.

Felicity Caborn ● 2452d

The local ASDA here in Isleworth has free copies of the Hounslow Chronicle and Informer each week. Also the Richmond and Twickenham Times although you are more likely to see news from Wandsworth and Morden than locally.

Vanessa Smith ● 2452d

Thanks for that Vanessa, the 'Chronny' no longer has an audited circulation and hasn't had one since December 2015 so I am pleasantly surprised that it is still about.
EDIT: Just found that the 'Chronicle and Informer' is now listed as a separate titel with an audited circulation averaging 16977 copies per week.

N V Brooks ● 2452d

I think the Chronicle and Informer is a generic title used by Reach (former Trinity Mirror) for a number of papers in the South East so this number may include them.It is a self-certified number so not actually audited and probably is the print run for the titles. If they are printing that many it seems strange they distribute so few in Chiswick. The Sainsbury's drop off point seems to be the only distribution point and they seem to leave about 50 copies there. Where the other 16927 g0 is a mystery.

Felicity Caborn ● 2452d

I have just returned from Sainsbury's. There were no copies of the Chronicle and Informer left by the entrance. I don't recall seeing any for some time.

Diane Brown ● 2452d

Could it be that it is such a great read that all the copies are snapped up as soon as they are left there?

Dan Evans ● 2451d

I was at the Argos entrance to Chiswick Sainsbury about 30 minutes ago and there were 100 or so copies of the Chronicle and Informer (Hounslow) next to today's Metros and Evening Standards.

Phil Kay ● 2450d

You are right. I popped in on my way home and noticed they had appeared. Definitely weren't there when I first posted. Picked up a copy out of curiosity - not a single article about Chiswick.

Diane Brown ● 2450d

Popped into Sainsbury's on way home from work and there were no papers other than the Metro and the Standard. I thought publication date for the local one was Friday.

Dan Evans ● 2448d

Perhaps they have changed the publication date but if they haven't then I'd say it raises similar issues for the validity of public notices in the Hounslow part of Chiswick as the lack of circulation of the Ealing Gazette does in Ealing's bit of Chiswick. It would be good to hear from councillors from both boroughs as to why this situation is being tolerated.

Andrew OSullivan ● 2446d

I live in the borough of Ealing but take no notice of what is happening in Ealing. I'm miles away from Ealing town center but a 4 min walk from TGT. I think the last time I even visited acton high st was about 15 years ago. The only contact I have with Ealing without looking for contact is the bin collection men and the parking wardens, and that is one day a week if I'm around. As for newspapers, I don't read them much these days as I get news online local and national. I even pretty much gave up reading the standard when it became a freebie. If a free paper happens to land in my letterbox it goes straight out the door and into the blue bin, just not interested. While a minority may wish to hang onto the old fashion way of getting news locally, most get it or seek it out in digital format on demand. Do many actually take much notice of Notices published by a council and just flick past them. And lastly, the strange thing at the end of the day is my MP. I kind of always think my MP is Ruth Cadbury while my MP is actually Rupa Huq. Says all really for my home location. That reminds me of looking in the window of an estate agent on TGT Sat evening. listed properties as Chiswick "W12"

Julian Pavey ● 2446d

The Reach Plc web site still indicates a publication day of Friday. What may be happening is that they are being printed on Friday but being distributed on a different day.Even if they are not I don't think the local councils have the power to do anything about this even if they had the desire. The government will always be very keen to keep Reach and other large newspaper publishers onside so they wouldn't allow councils to consider alternatives. Andrew is right that the way this is currently being done probably breaches the law but if the government doesn't want to enforce it then this is the way it is going to be.

Felicity Caborn ● 2446d

This situation cannot improve because of a piece of legislation brought in by Eric Pickles. He brought in an act that prohibited local authorities from publishing magazines or newspapers more than four times a year - useless for statutory notices. I worked on Hackney Council's fortnightly newspaper when this act was introduced, and we provided overwhelming evidence that it was significantly more cost-effective for us to publish statutory notices in our own publication rather than to have to pay the local press to publish them.We resisted for as long as possible, but eventually had to comply with this ass of a law. It was never about re-distributing money to the local press - it was always about gagging the Labour held councils in East London.

David Roberts ● 2446d

The fact that you and most other people in W4 Ealing  would never read the Ealing Gazette even if it was available isn't the issue. The Council has a statutory duty to notify us of things like planning application, licensing notices major roadworks in the area through a public notice which they are legally obliged to put in a newspaper. 

Andrew OSullivan ● 2445d

But does a paper have a legal obligation to distribute the paper to all within the borough is the question.

Julian Pavey ● 2445d

If you want lists, the planning applications are listed on-line.http://planning.hounslow.gov.uk/planning_lists_main.aspxI live in another borough and don't look at the lists, except for Argyll and Bute, which has an even better listing system.https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/planning-and-environment/weekly-list-valid-planning-applications

James Roy ● 2445d

I think Eric Pickles' intervention was very necessary because some councils, most notably Hammermith and Fulham, were setting up what were essentially commercial newspaper operations that published propaganda for local authorities.Councils aren't allowed to get into the restaurant or estate agency business so why should they be allowed to become newspaper publishers? They are the very last people that should be allowed to control the flow of news at a local level.Also taking away all the revenue that newspapers get from public notices would mean that the vast majority of them would close. They wouldn't be missed by people in Chiswick and many other parts of London where the local paper has ceased to fulfil its basic function to inform but elsewhere some pretty good publications would be driven under by the sharp decline in revenue that would result.A rethink of how this is done is clearly overdue but probably too politically sensitive for even the current government to tackle. What I think most people would agree on is that the solution is not to allow councils to publish their own notices. There is a conflict on interest and there wouldn't be any saving for the taxpayer as these state funded newspapers would require subsidies plus the local press should be enabled to act as a watch dog on the activities of local authorities. Exactly what the solution is remains a difficult question though.

Felicity Caborn ● 2445d

Ealing Council does run a news site called Ealing News Extra.This is the sort of thing you get - an item which says how amazing it is that all these people are volunteering to help out run the local library without mentioned the reason they need to is all the paid staff were sacked.https://ealingnewsextra.co.uk/features/west-ealing-library/

Mark Evans ● 2445d

Ealing News Extra is really little more than a publicity sheet for Bell's Buffoons and contains little of anything bordering on the realities of life in Ealing.
Thank the lord that Eric Pickles' 'sanctions' prevent this tripe appearing monthly as it used to do.

N V Brooks ● 2445d

"We've put in more money than ever before."  Now which of our failing and reduced and underfunded services should we allocate that Government statement to today?It doesn't work either way.  Stymied.What do you do if people are just more interested in contemplating their navels?

Philippa Bond ● 2445d

I have taken to making a very early morning visit to Sainsbury's to do my weekly shop. For the past two weeks there have been no papers in the bins by the entrance apart from the Evening Standard. It may be that the store have increased charges for permission to deposit papers there - I haven't seen any report that Reach have closed the Chronicle and Informer.

Felicity Caborn ● 2426d

Aren't you ignoring the obvious - those unable to buy toilet roll are picking up copies as an alternative!

Mark Evans ● 2425d

Ha, ha.More seriously, it may be a good idea to stop distributing these newsletters. They could become a focal point for infection and, as the elderly make up the vast majority of people who read them, they present an elevated risk.

Felicity Caborn ● 2425d