The Newspaper Society has called for the government’s crackdown on ‘Town Hall pravdas’ to include a ban on advertising in council newspapers.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles unveiled a series of measures in September designed to curb council publications – which he said had ‘left many local newspapers looking over the abyss’.

He launched a consultation into a revised Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, which closed on Wednesday, and included a four-a-year limit for council newspapers.

In its response to the consultation, the NS has called for third party advertising in council publications to be banned.

The NS quotes an Audit Commission study, published in January, which found 47pc of council publications in England carried some private sector advertising – putting them in direct competition with local newspapers.

Its submission says: “It is imperative that the revised statutory Code is unequivocal in its prohibition of any local authority publicity activities which would undermine the free press. Unfair competition must be stopped.

“The Code must prevent local authorities from producing or controlling or having any interest in or derive benefit from any form of media activity which competes unfairly with the local commercial and independent media – whether printed newspaper or other publication, radio, television, online publications and services, whether website, including broadband ‘TV’ or radio or other audiovisual services, or mobile services.

“The NS therefore supports the objective of the revised Code and in particular its proposals for restrictions on the frequency of publications and the nature of the content and to require clear identification of council publications.”

The NS says the revised Code must ensure local authorities cannot get round the restrictions by continuing to pursue print and online media services through third parties.

It also highlights its opposition to any government plans to remove statutory obligations to publish public notices in local newspapers, saying this could mean information could be inaccessible to those without internet access.

The NS adds: “The Code and our proposals would certainly not prevent local authorities from providing their communities with information relevant to them, the council and its work in any effective form.

“The NS has always made it clear that it has no complaint with the traditional type of non-competing council publication, such as an A-Z of council services, published two or three times a year.”