Your voice in the community

11:15am Thursday 8th May 2008

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THIS week is Local Newspaper Week - an annual event aimed at highlighting the role of regional media and the community its serves.

Whether it is celebrating success, informing about important decisions and events, or recording deaths and tragedies, local newspapers play a vital part in sharing news and opnions through their trusted pages and, equally these days, through websites and text alerts as traditional newspapers embrace new technology to keep the audience up-to-speed with everything that matters in the local area.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Newspaper Society's awareness campaign and the spotlight is on the campaigning work championed by editors and their staff.

And Ryedale's very own Gazette & Herald is proud to highlight some of the campaigns we have mounted in recent months, preparing petitions on key issues, highlighting important decisions which affect each and every one of us, and ensuring crucial subjects stay firmly in the spotlight with every viewpoint explored.

The Birthright campaign, to save the much-loved Malton maternity unit, continues, even as there is fresh hope for the centre's future. We were quick to join the battle to protect postal services in our rural areas, and shared the indignation of villagers as their services were stripped away.

When a majority of district councillors voted out the long-awaited sports centre for Malton and Norton, the Sporting Chance campaign was born, adding impetus to the will which existed in the community to continue the fight - culminating in a less-expensive centre being quickly approved.

Car parking is a thorny subject, from the charges to the idea that Wentworth Street car park would be better used as an edge-of-town supermarket. Our Drive Down Parking Charges and Hands Off our Car Park campaigns help to keep the issue in the public eye.

There have been others, highlighting the nuisance of anti-social bewhaviour and focussing thoughts on Malton's links with Charles Dickens. And there will be more as the Gazette continues to represent its readers.

What Prime Minister Gordon Brown has to say about the importance of local papers

Local newspapers are right at the heart of Britain's local communities, examining the issues which matter, seeking out local people's views, and representing their interests. That is why the readers of local newspapers see them as such honest, responsible and accurate sources of news.

But local newspapers do not just hold the Government to account for the local impact of the changes we are making. They also play a vital a role in campaigning for the changes which local people want to see.

There are some real challenges ahead for Britain as a country, every one of which has an impact on local people - whether it is providing more affordable housing, improving our health service, making sure all our young people have the skills to get jobs in the future, making our streets safer for decent people, or protecting our environment.

I know these challenges are appreciated by local newspapers up and down the country, and reflected in their campaigns, from encouraging shoppers to use fewer plastic bags, to tackling gangs and knife crime.

I believe that we can only meet all these challenges if we do more to listen to local people across the country and give them more power to take decisions themselves on the way their local services are organised and funded.

Local newspapers are a critical part of this process, and I know that there is a huge opportunity for them to lead more campaigns on the issues which matter.

And I want readers of this newspaper to know that when you participate in these campaigns, we are listening to you.

I want to do even more to move away from the old Britain weakened by decades of Whitehall knows best', towards a new Britain strengthened by local centres of energy, initiative, dynamism and decision-making.

Local newspapers make an essential contribution to the vitality of local communities, and as a result our whole national life is strengthened. You show us what really makes the difference in our country is communi ties coming together to change things for the better.

I congratulate you all and I wish you all the best for the future.