The local news media industry’s award-winning Public Notice Portal has hit the milestone of one million users, as new research shows that local news media remains the number one destination for public notices.

Designed to enhance local media’s coverage of public notices in print, the portal has seen steady growth in traffic as users seek out important information about planning, construction, transport links, roadworks, and licensing changes in their local area.

The portal, which hit the milestone of one million users on 31 May, also scooped Digital Initiative of the Year at the Regional Press Awards.

NMA chief executive Owen Meredith said: “Placing public notices in local news media remains the best way to ensure that everyone can access the important information contained within them in a fair and uniform way.

“The statutory requirement on councils to advertise public notices in printed newspapers ensures that those who are digitally excluded can access the notices.”

In Wales, where Ministers face opposition to plans to remove the statutory requirement on councils to advertise council tax notices in local papers, the level of digital exclusion in Wales is even higher than in the rest of the UK, with as many as 170,000 people, not using the internet.