Best Value or Propping Up Print Media with Public Money

Council pays over £40,000 in just first three months of 2026 to two print media business

It’s time to ask some questions on this as it could be claimed one paper is getting a disproportionate amount of public money.

In the three months January, February, March 2026 Westmorland and Furness Council paid £46,152.11 to just two print newspaper organisations one with three print papers and one with one in the council area and one got twice as much as the other and not the one you would think.

Council currently have a legal requirement to print public notice planning highway orders due to out-of-date legislation that the current government is thankfully consulting on potential changes that will ultimately save millions in public money across the UK.

However locally all print media has relatively low circulation figures and that is public domain figures as is the amount the council is paying them.

So back to the two print media businesses remember one has 3 print publications one has one weekly print paper. In the three months Jan Feb March 2026 the council paid out to one of them £15,057.41 and the other £31,094.70 and the higher amount to the one with the single publication a week.

Looking back over the twelve months payments of public money rack up into the hundreds of thousands to the two organisations.

While accepting currently public notices are something the council cant get out of the extreme disproportional amounts against publication coverage raises some rather concerning questions over best value for public money against public funds propping up newspapers.