LOCAL businesses across Tynedale have supported the Your Right to Know campaign by displaying copies of the petition.

Residents in local communities have been heading to their local shops to get on board and back the campaign, which calls on Northumberland County Council to reinstate public notices in the Hexham Courant with immediate effect.

In Allendale, more than 150 people had signed the petition in the post office by Wednesday this week.

And Peggs News on Priestpopple, Hexham had gathered 70 signatures, while its sister shop, Cookes News on Meal Market, had collected 27.

Supervisor Kieran Mann said: “We’ve had lots of people who come in and say ‘what’s this’ and we tell them about it and they sign it.

“But some people are coming in specifically and saying ‘have you got a petition’? The support has been quite strong.

“Another thing I would say is that there’s people from all over signing it – it’s quite a spread out area. There’s people from Prudhoe, Acomb and as far as Carlisle and some people from Newcastle. It’s really getting people’s attention.”

Thanks to the support of staff at Wylam Spar, the petition gathered 308 signatures.

Customer assistant Jill Fairless said she had been making sure the petition was on show and people knew about it. She said: “Basically they feel completely ignored by the council and they feel that it’s very political and feel very aggrieved.

“The Hexham Courant is our local paper and they think Northumberland County Council should be aware that the Northumberland Gazette , even though it is called the Northumberland Gazette , is still only a local paper for its area. They can’t get round it by saying it covers the whole of Northumberland.

“They basically feel really put out by it all and that’s why we’ve had a strong reaction.

“Our circulation of the Northumberland Gazette is two, and one of them is me. That’s compared to 180 to 190 Hexham Courants which is a big difference.”

Bellingham News had 56 signatures on its petition since Monday. Owner Kate Jamieson said: “I think the general feeling is people just don’t like what’s going on – that’s why everyone’s signing it.

“There’s a lot of feeling about it as people feel like it has a big effect on them.”