A local news website conceived over a pint and named after a mythical creature has become the first in the UK to be given charitable status, providing a “glimmer of hope” to the future of local journalism.

Alexandra Topping www.theguardian.com 

The Guildford Dragon News has become the UK’s first charitable public interest news provider after a six-month application process that experts hope will provide a lifeline to the decimated local news industry.

“It would be fantastic if we’re successful and this leads the way for other similar news publications to also become sustainable,” said the Dragon’s editor, Martin Giles, who has worked – unpaid – seven days a week for the title for more than a decade.

The move could mark a step-change in an industry that has veered from crisis to life support. Figures published last month by Press Gazette show that in the 15 years leading up to 2022, revenue at the main regional publishers plummeted by more than 80%, when adjusted for inflation.

The number of local journalists scrutinising councils, interviewing MPs and keeping track of local developments fell from 13,000 to 4,000, which MPs and experts have said is having a devastating effect on the scrutiny of local democracy.

“The local newspaper as it existed in the 1950s has been dying for years, but it’s comprehensively dead now. There’s a very real crisis and that is a very real problem for democracy,” said Jonathan Heawood, the executive director of the Public Interest News Foundation, a charity that funnels donations into public interest journalism.

While more than 4 million people in the UK live in “news deserts” without adequate local journalism, the awarding of charitable status to the Dragon provided a “glimmer of hope”, he said.

Tom Murdoch from the law experts Stone King, which advises the Charitable Journalism Project (CJP) campaign, said the publication could now benefit from a range of traditional tax breaks, and attract donors who can also get tax relief on money handed over to support public interest journalism. “This decision accepts a public interest news definition that is charitable,” he said. “That is huge progress, it’s a doorway to sustainability.”

Government reaction to the struggles of local news has been muted. It rejected proposals, made in the 2019 Cairncross review, to extend charitable status to many struggling local news outlets, arguing they would be banned from supporting political parties, stopped from being for-profit, and that much journalism does not work “only for the public benefit”. They also dismissed calls for an arms-length, state-funded organisation supporting public service, on the basis it would damage press freedom.

Despite this, a new wave of local and hyper-local websites are rising up from the rubble of local news. The Bristol Cable is member-funded, while in Glasgow, two nonprofit outlets – Greater Govanhill and the Ferret – have come together to open the UK’s first community newsroom. Social Spider Community News, which has six London-based publications, is a social enterprise that is now breaking even.

“We are trying to find a way to save local journalism while keeping it free to access, as we consider it to be a public service,” said Social Spider’s editor, James Cracknell, who has spent his career in local news including a stint at Reach, which recently cut about 10% of its workforce.

Others are going down a commercial route. Reader-funded local news outlet Mill Media is expanding after being valued at £1.75m by a group of investors including the former New York Times boss Mark Thompson.

The Guildford Dragon News – which was conceived over a moan about the state of local news coverage by Giles and a former chief sub of the Surrey Advertiser in the local pub – has more modest short-term ambitions. It has already had a significant local impact – after one story about events at a local parish council all but one councillor stood down.

Giles hopes to raise £70,000 to pay for one and a half members of staff, so Guildford’s council meetings and coffee shop openings can be covered more comprehensively.

He explained that the name of the publication came from a legend of a dragon who had protected a local prehistoric site. “That’s why I’m so keen on sustainability because I’m not going to be around for ever. In the future I want the news to still be available to people in this community,” said Giles. “We like to think we also have a protective role over the area.”

Is Simon Jupp, Private Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper, privy to a file marked “sensitive do not disclose before election”? 

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard has claimed the government’s plan to build the station at Old Oak Common for High Speed 2 services would result in disruption and longer journeys for passengers travelling from the South West to the capital on the Great Western line, including weekend closures.

Should mitigation involve an upgrade to the Waterloo line?

Fears new HS2 station will cause massive trains delays to South West

Carl Eve www.plymouthherald.co.uk 

Rail passengers in the South West could face a “decade of disruption” because of the Government’s ‘hidden’ plans to build a new High Speed 2 rail station alongside the Great Western mainline in west London, a Plymouth MP has claimed.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper MP, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard has claimed the government’s plan to build the station at Old Oak Common for High Speed 2 services would result in disruption and longer journeys for passengers travelling from the South West to the capital on the Great Western line.

Mr Pollard also warned that the construction of Old Oak Common would inevitably involve a large number of weekend closures of the line between Reading and London Paddington which would “significantly damage the rail service” to the South West and Wales – and asked if the Government had not made the potential damage known publicly ahead of a General Election.

The Minister’s office has not denied the new station was to be built but has insisted construction work would be “taking place many years in the future.” They added that there would be efforts to minimise disruption, and cited side-benefits to the South West such as the reopening of the Tavistock to Bere Alston railway using the scrapped HS2 funds.

However in his letter to Mark Harper MP, Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Pollard claimed the potentially considerable disruption appeared to have not been fully communicated with the travelling public in the South West of England and Wales, the areas which will be affected.

He said he had continually argued since being elected that journeys between Plymouth, the far South West and London needed to be shorter, as it would provide a real benefit to the region in terms of productivity and the regional economy. Noting that the HS2 service itself would offer “little benefit” to the South West and Wales, he added that the new station would in fact cause “significant disruption” instead.

He revealed in his letter that he had met with Network Rail and Great Western Railway about the mainline and was left concerned that the combination of projects will not only offer little benefit to the South West and Wales, but would add “considerable extra time to our journeys and cause significant economic disruption”.

His detailed letter raises five key areas of concern, the first being that GWR trains to and from London Paddington could be forced to stop at Old Oak Common, adding unnecessary minutes to every journey, which he claimed had “zero appetite” in the South West.

Secondly he highlighted the “build timetable” could involve a “large number of weekend closures” of the line between Reading and London Paddington. He questioned what was the currently predicted number of weekends which could be affected and how long this could go on for, saying that it could “severely damage the transport” links to the South West and effectively “risk creating the impression that the South West is closed for business”, hitting the region’s tourism industry as well as the regular commuters and business travellers.

The third area of concern Mr Pollard asked the transport minister to address was the weekend closures would “add significant extra journey time should trains be able to run to London Euston or London Waterloo”. He asked how may trains services would be able to run to those stations during the track closures.

He revealed that he had “heard estimates of 30 minutes extra to London Euston and 45 minutes extra to London Waterloo” and asked if these estimates were accurate.

His fourth concern was the potential changes to the funding of Network Rail’s renewals work “could mean speed restrictions” on the GWR mainline “that will further slow rail journeys”.

His fifth concern that the combination of delays caused by the construction of Old Oak Common mainline station and the delays to journeys once it finally opens would “significantly increase journey times from the South West and Wales to London”.

The sixth and final concern he raised was that the Department for Transport had “not communicated the aggregate effect of these changes” – effectively they had not publicly announced the considerably longer rail journeys and considerable delays to stakeholders in Wales and the South West” adding ominously that “there is little public understanding of the decade of disruption these plans will cause”.

Concluding his letter to the minister, Mr Pollard said he believed the department was about to approve changes that would “significantly damage the rail service between London Paddington and the South West and Wales – and no-one knows about them.”

He asked Mr Harper: “Is this a deliberate policy? Have you decided not to reveal details ahead of a General Election?”

Luke Pollard MP, Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, told PlymouthLive: “Ministers appear to be hiding plans that will deliver a decade of disruption on the railway from voters in the south west.

“Without proper mitigation, the government’s plans to build a new station at Old Oak Common in West London will result in a decade of disruption for passengers in the south west.

“It is clear to me that they are seeking to hide this disruption until after a General Election. We need Ministers to come clean about their plan now and what mitigations they are planning.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “The disruption referred to in this letter relates to construction work taking place many years in the future. While Network Rail and train operating companies are responsible for communicating with passengers and ensuring there are alternative travel options during works, we are always open and honest about the disruption caused during construction of infrastructure projects and what mitigations are in place to address this.

“As well as the new interchange at Old Oak Common referred to in this letter, thanks to reallocated HS2 funding we will see more investment into local transport improvements such as the reopening the rail line between Plymouth and Tavistock and reintroducing passenger services to Wellington and Cullompton.”

The DfT suggested that each point raised in Mr Pollard’s yet would be responded to in more detail, and explained how the disruption issues raised related to construction work which would be taking place many years in the future. The department maintained that it was not standard to publicise closures and mitigations this far in advance as it is not fully known what the situation will be at the time.

They added that Old Oak Common would provide “enhanced connectivity” for services from the West of England, Cornwall and South Wales to the North by creating an interchange between HS2 and Great Western Services, while connections to central, East and Southeast London would be realised through Elizabeth Line services calling at the station.

They added that the department was working with Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, and train operating companies to minimise the impacts of disruption. The reallocated HS2 funding would be invested in local transport improvements including reopening stations and reintroducing rail passenger services to Wellington and Cullompton, reinstating five miles of track and a new station at Tavistock to connect it with Plymouth. The department said the Levelling Up Fund would also deliver a new station on the Okehampton Line and would ‘transform’ rail services in mid Cornwall with a £50m contribution to the Mid Cornwall Metro scheme.