Photographers from the Hull Daily Mail have been banned from taking pictures at a local birth centre which had been under threat from closure.

Picture desk staff had regularly visited the Jubilee Birth Centre at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham to take pictures of mums with their newborns, but a campaign run by the paper prompted a ban by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust has been at the heart of a review of the birth centre, and in response the Mail launched its Save The Jubilee campaign.

Now the Mail has won its fight to keep the centre open.

Last night it was unclear whether the ban was still in place, but Mail editor John Meehan told HoldtheFrontPage that the paper would still be taking pictures of mums celebrating.

He said of the ban: “Frankly it’s ludicrous. It’s very clear that the hospital trust were being sensitive about the campaign to save a valuable and well-regarded NHS facility.

“It’s an example of the trust venting its frustrations at us because we’ve taken an alternative view.”

He added: “We are most pleased that the facility has been preserved and are absolutely sure it is because of the campaign by mums and mums-to-be, supported by the Mail.”

Officials had said there were to be no more pictures of new arrivals at the birth centre, although the Mail was still permitted to take pictures at the Women And Children’s Hospital in Anlaby Road, Hull.

A trust spokesman told the Mail: “We’ve decided there will be no more pictures taken at the Jubilee Birth Centre because of the campaign.”

The Mail has been taking pictures of new babies at the centre since it opened in 2003.

Emma Gawn, from the Jubilee Supporters’ Group, condemned the move and urged mums to send in their own pictures to the paper.

She said: “They are not just discriminating against the Mail, they are also discriminating against the mums. Mothers might like to see photographs of their babies in the newspaper.

“This is just one way of stopping the Mail talking to new mums and getting their support for the campaign, but that’s wrong.”

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