If you could change one thing in your local area, what would it be?

Many people love and take pride in their community but they might still wish for a few improvements.

Tidier streets could be on your wish list, or more leisure facilities for young people. Some areas are blighted by problems such as poverty or high crime rates which provoke strong local feeling.

Whatever the issue, local people have the power to fight for their community and make a difference.

Local people are best-placed to make the decisions that will shape their community’s future because they know the area better than anyone else.

But in order to do so they need regular, up to date information they can trust and rely upon.

And that is where local newspapers have such a vital role to play.

Local newspapers bring important issues into sharp focus and spark real, meaningful action.

They give people unbiased, trusted information which they need to make to make the right decisions for them and their community.

In this way, local papers truly give power back to the people.

Be it taking control of their own housing association, or forming a new club or society, local papers give people the power to unite behind a cause and act.

Countless charities have benefitted from the power of local papers. Through their pages, local papers can help with fundraising and volunteering campaigns.

Through the local paper, people can come together and unite behind a cause, be it a campaign for better medical facilities in their area, or a move to start a new football team.

Acting in this way, local papers truly are the glue that binds communities.

By uniting like-minded people, local papers promote local clubs and societies and provide vital publicity for cultural events.

Similarly, they can promote local businesses, energising the local economy as they do so.

By performing this vital service, local papers not only inform the local community but shape its future for the better.

It is this unique quality, shared by local and regional papers across Britain, that we are celebrating during this year’s Local Newspaper Week (9-15 May) and we hope that you will join us in doing so.