Pickles launches pilot on bringing statutory notices "into 21st century"

The Communities Secretary has launched a pilot scheme intended to bring municipal statutory notices “into the 21st century”.

Eric Pickles said: “How we consume information has drastically changed with advances in technology. Statutory notices need to change too.

“But previously, there has been a sterile debate based on a binary choice of the total retention or total abolition of requirements to publish notices in local newspapers.

“Instead, we are inviting councils, newspapers and others to pilot innovative ways of improving statutory notices. We want to see how statutory notices can be better published and marketed through the likes of pooled notices in newspapers, improved procurement, digital advertising and location-specific mobile technology.”

The minister added that the Government was “committed to supporting an independent free press, and to ensuring that local taxpayers are better informed about council decisions that affect their lives”.

According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, the pilots will provide evidence about what the public wants to be or should be informed about, how they want to be informed and what works and does not work in meeting the public’s need.

They will run from March 2015 to the end of August 2015. The expressions of interest form can be viewed here.