Forum Topic

Chronicle/Council deal

H&F Council will be notifying the public about council news in the Chronicle newspaper.  However, the Chronicle is not delivered to every home in W12 due to its budget costs - so how can this new deal be justified - "The new agreement will see public notices and other display advertisements published in the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle every week".   I have checked with the Chronicle and they don't have plans to deliver more or leave some in the libraries for collection.  How are we going to get our news - the council website does not have as much information as the newspaper held

Lena Armstrong ● 4971d16 Comments

err.. in 2010 the Council was telling us that the local paper was so bad that they had to set up another one in competition with it to keep residents informed. Now it is a tragedy it closed down?

Karen Taylor ● 3875d

Unfortunately "The word" is wrong!The Council won't be bringing back H&F News. The Council is looking at how the legal requirement to publish certain public notices in a newspaper can be met.However, it's still a tragedy that the Chronicle has closed and that all those people have lost their jobs.

Mark Loveday ● 3876d

If one Council was allowed to publish notices on their web site they all would and the local newspaper industry would collapse. Local authorities have been lobbying for years to have the requirement to put these notices in newspapers ended and the Government is dead set against it. It isn't going to change its mind any time soon.

Felicity Caborn ● 3876d

Regular ads in the Standard or the Metro will end up costing the Council hundreds of thousands or, if not millions. Why not just publish them on their web site?

Andy Jones ● 3877d

Don't think it is true that the Council will try and bring back their in-house paper. The Press Gazette are reporting that they are planning to use the Evening Standard and the Metro for public notices - far more expensive than the Chronicle so every one is a loser here.

Paul Corcoran ● 3877d

This deal now appears to have fallen through with Trinity Mirror pulling out of the contract. The word is that the Council aren’t entirely unhappy about this and will make a bid to restore H&F News. This was the Council-run paper that they previously tried to drive the Chronicle out of business with. They will argue that they have to do it because otherwise public notices in the borough will be invalid.

Felicity Caborn ● 3877d

The latest Private Eye has picked up on this issue. Can't see the big deal myself. Every Council advertises in the local paper and if there is only one paper there is no mystery where it is going to appear. If H&F Council has managed to get themselves a bit of extra space for public information that is surely a good thing all round?

Andy Jones ● 4944d

Thanks to you boh - Richard - I will be visiting you weekly - thanks again

Lena Armstrong ● 4961d

If the Council are not fulfilling a statutory obligation they are breaking the law. I don't think that the fact that you don't receive the newspaper in which they carry their public notices means that they have broken their statutory obligation but I may be wrong. The way to find out would be to question the validity of a specific public notice on the basis that they have failed to keep you properly informed.

Felicity Caborn ● 4961d

We are at 234 Uxbridge Road. Just between Shepherds Bush Market tube station and the police station close to the junction of Stanlake Road. It is Jorgensen Turner Estate agents and we'll be open from 9am - 7pm Tuesday to Thursday and 9.30 - 4.30 Saturday this week.Kind regardsRichard

Richard Turner ● 4961d

"The council doesn't have a statutory obligation to pay Trinity. It has a statutory obilgation to inform the residents of the borough."  - That is my point exactly.  If I am not going to get the information, then the council are not keeping up their statutory obligation.  And I think as a advertiser Richard, you have every right to question their distribution.  Not everyone uses the internet - and the H&F News was fantastic for supplying local (not propaganda) information. The 'Shepherds Bush Gazette' should be renamed the West London Gazette as there is very little news in in from Shepherds Bush.  Richard - where are your offices?  If you have copies of the chronicle that I could collect it would be greatHappy Easter to you all

Lena Armstrong ● 4965d

From my understanding, there is already a relatively high transfer rate to the Cronicle with previous advertisers in the H&F giving increased revenue. This will support the team producing it and give them the ability to deliver a high quality product which offers good content of locally focused news which is delivered to as large a cross-section of the community as possible.With a higher number of advertisers there isn't a need to increase the cost per ad rate to generate the same income. I'm looking forward to seeing the first edition of the rejuvenated Cronicle delivered through the doors of the local households that we are trying to reach through advertising and being part of a high quality publication which is part of the fabric of the community which we're all a part of.

Richard Turner ● 4967d

Richard, for certain types of notices there is a statutory obligation to publish in a local newspaper. As Trinity now own the only one this money would have gone to them regardless. Council's have a broad ill-defined obligation to keep the public informed but generally don't bother unless there is a specific regulation that obliges them to do so.From what I saw of H&F News it was a very high quality publication - maybe the best local newspaper in London while it was being published. This was possible because it enjoyed a substantial subsidy from local taxpayers. They may well have been happy with this but the Government have decided that Council's can't do this any more.The Chronicle now has a monopoly and should see increased business from former customers of H&F News but I'm told that ad rates on the Council paper were so low (because the aim was to undercut the Chronicle rather than operate commercially) that many clients won't transfer back because the price will be higher for what will be less effective advertising.The Chronicle's team, from what I hear, is currently a very strong one but it remains to be seen if Trinity remain willing to maintain this level of investment. This area is lucky in being one of the few that still has local reporters with good knowledge of the area rather than the cookie-cutting approach that you describe.

Felicity Caborn ● 4967d

The council doesn't have a statutory obligation to pay Trinity. It has a statutory obilgation to inform the residents of the borough. They will now be paying Trinity to do this rather than producing a publication themselves, which is a great shame as the quality of the chronicle has previously been poor and regardless of your opinion of the 'bias' of the news it was very community focused.My understanding is that the cronicle will have the benefit of many more advertisers (ourselves included) as well as the revenue from H&F and will hopefully re-invest some of this revenue in ensuring the news content of the publication is increased and that it has a strong local focus and not just general interest articles which are distributed throughout the numerous titles that Trinity owns.I personally belive that a healthy local newspaper has an important part of the fabric of healthy local community and really do hope that this is something that is protected and developed rather than stripped back to maximise profit at all cost. I understand that business must be profitable to be successful and grow, and hopefully this will grow and be of benfit to the local community.

Richard Turner ● 4967d

The sharp rise in newsprint costs this year means that it will be very expensive to maintain a high distribution for the paper. The Chronicle has incurred extra costs already because they beefed up their staff to compete with H&F News but with that title out of the picture it remains to be seen whether they can maintain coverage and distribution. I don't know if the contract obliges them to maintain a particular level of distribution but I doubt it. I'm pleased they won their battle with H&F News which was set up with the intent of driving them out of business but it would be a shame if the title now went into decline. As the only newspaper in the area they don't really need a contract with the Council as H&F has a statutory obligation to use them anyway.

Felicity Caborn ● 4967d

According to the data provided to us (as an advertiser) there will be 70% coverage for this. As with the other advertisers in this we are being provided with a number of copies to our office which will be available for collection. Unfortunately I think that the volume of news is generally going to be less in a production which produced commercially rather than a publication produced by H and F directly as there is a different agenda.

Richard Turner ● 4967d