A ‘good news’ freesheet has been banned from council premises due to an “inappropriate” advertising feature plugging prospective election candidates – including the paper’s owner.

Mansfield’s Civic Centre will no longer stock the Mansfield, Ashfield and Warsop News Journal after reception staff were instructed to withdraw it from display.

The decision was made by Mansfield District Council’s managing director, Ruth Marlow, who claims the paid-for advert for Independent candidates standing in May’s council elections breaches local authority publicity regulations in the run-up to the poll.

The paper’s owner and founder, Stewart Rickersey, is one of the candidates listed in the feature which urges readers to “keep party politics out of Mansfield.”

Ms Marlow argued that by displaying the New Journal in its offices the council could be perceived to be supporting its content.

However Stewart, the News Journal’s managing director and a former MD of local paid-for weekly the Mansfield Chad, has argued such regulation only applies to the 28-day “purdah” period prior to an election

The newspaper has been distributed from the Civic Centre for the last 11 months, having been formed by Stewart and four other former Chad staffers in 2014.

It was founded with the intention of celebrating the achievements of “unsung heroes” across its patch, as well as “positive” news from schools, businesses, councils and health authorities.

In an email exchange with Stewart, which has been seen by HTFP, Ms Marlow said she had been unaware of the distribution arrangement until “very recently”.

In response, Stewart wrote: “Of course I do not accept your argument about endorsement either from the standpoint of the paper itself or its content.

“In a free society councils should not have ‘editorial control over the content’ which you seem to imply as a condition for publications being put on display in the council’s offices. Just the opposite should be the case.”

No other free or paid-for newspapers are currently distributed from council premises other than the authority’s own residents’ magazine.

In a statement to HTFP explaining her decision, Ms Marlow said: “The Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity recommends caution especially at sensitive times such as in the run up to elections.

“It suggests that where arrangements are in place to host third party material that they are suspended to ensure legal restrictions are not breached.

“The February edition of the News Journal contained an advertising feature for a mayoral candidate and prospective local councillors who intend to stand for election for a political party.

“This is inappropriate and could lead to allegations of political bias. As a result, I took the decision to request that the paper no longer be displayed on the council’s premises.”