HOW often do you look up a planning applications or public notices? Probably not that often unless it’s an application near your property or something that affects your town or parish.

As a journalist and reporter for a series of local newspapers I regularly look up public notices on the areas I write about and delve into planning applications that could be of interest; listed buildings, controversial decisions, or planning permission being sought for large developments that will have a great impact on an area.

A decision by Aldi to approach Cornwall Council in 2022 to build a supermarket on public green space in Saltash has led to consternation among local people. Not so much in the decision by Aldi to want to build here; the rivalry between Aldi and Lidl is well known and who doesn’t love our town, but the decision to propose a greenfield site regularly used by a local sports club struck the community as rather bizarre.

Long before the public furore over the understanding reached between the then Tory-led Cornwall Council and discount supermarket, two public notices appeared in this paper in July 2025. Completely in line with statutory expectations of such proposals, yet how can it be that two small columns in a newspaper is enough to satisfy any local authority that public due diligence has been achieved?

It seems that contrary to any push by the Labour government to remove that requirement, we should be looking for more coverage, not less.

Local newspapers are a great source of local insight and unlike some platforms that share national news, truly local platforms do a great job in informing their communities. But in an ever increasingly digital world there must be a better way to ensure that public notices that have massive ramifications for a community get more coverage, and digital at that.

Local news platforms would seem the ideal place for that to happen, at the same time helping to safeguard this important local resource that so many rely on.

I raised the need for the publication of notices to move with the times in a recent residents’ surgery with our South East Cornwall MP who agreed to look into the matter.

This week, I was pleased to see that there has been some major investment recently into the Public Notice Portal where all these public notices are held online. Major funding by the Google News Initiative means the platform allows more public consultation as well as a complete archive.

Critically the CEO of News Media Association said: “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.”

As a Liberal Democrat, I believe transparency is key. It’s so important to our communities. Let’s hope this work heralds the beginning of an overhaul of statutory notifications so that opportunities are not missed by communities who have to live with the commercial decisions of big business.