Cats with arthritis and dogs with epilepsy sought by Trunch author

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• Monty Python legend Michael Palin in Fakenham today for school’s centenary celebrations
• East of England Ambulance Service appoints new chairman
• Fakenham Gateway Children’s Centre closes suddenly
• Regional newspapers like the Eastern Daily Press do not need a “burdensome regulatory system” imposed on them, Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings told MPs today. Appearing before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee the boss of the Norwich-based group, which publishes a number of papers in the region, told the MP panel that cross-party proposals for a royal charter to underpin press regulation could cost the industry at least two to five times more than the current system. Plans for a royal charter agreed by MPs from all the parties following the Leveson report into malpractice in the newspaper industry were delayed after a separate plan was proposed by some newspapers for self-regulation with a lesser role for the state. The alternative royal charter plan has been backed by the Newspaper Society, which is currently chaired by Mr Jeakings. Mr Jeakings denied allegations from Labour MP and committee member Ben Bradshaw, quoting the National Union of Journalists and lobby group Hacked Off, that the Newspaper Society was doing the bidding for national newspapers. He said: “We don’t believe that we are doing the nationals bidding. We have debated this at length individually and of course we always have the option of not going with what the national newspapers choose to do, however for the moment we are.” He said that the old regulatory system, the Press Complaints Commission, “did a good job” of handling complaints for the local press, but he could see there was pressure to replace it with something larger. He said; “Our issue is not whether there should be regulation or not, but rather with the way that regulation is implemented and the cost pressures it might impose on us.” He added that the proposed regulation would have an impact on journalists’ ability to report on stories without fear of being tied up in a complex, burdensome and a possible punitive process. John Whittingdale, committee chair questioned publishers, including chairman of Local World David Montgomery, DC Thompson managing director Christopher Thomson and Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield on whether the financial outlook was as bad as previously reported in a report a few years ago when there were “apocalyptic predictions” about the future of the industry. But Mr Jeakings said he could see a “bright future” for regional papers. He said: “There are different business models in different companies, but one of the things that we don’t need at this point is to have a burdensome regulatory system imposed on us and the associated costs.” He added: “Leveson exonerated us from the malpractice that led to his report in the first place, indeed he said we play a key role in society and said we shouldn’t have additional burden and suggested government should do what it could to help us. He said: “Some of the things that could be done to help us would include stopping council newspapers, curtailing some of the BBC’s local activities, sharing of content and having a more sensible media merger regime for local newspapers and many other things.”
• Photo gallery: New Lord Mayor of Norwich follows in father’s footsteps
• Car crashes into Tesco Express store
• New apprenticeship scheme launched
• Family pays tribute to grandfather who died after crash on A47 near Dereham
• Update: Motorcyclist killed in Fressingfield crash named as Charlie Cockett, 25
• Sheringham Tesco construction starts - after 17-year wait
• The Norfolk man who wrote Champions League anthem: Listen to it in full here
• Norfolk’s young poets are encouraged to enter competition
• Fresh hope of Cromer bus station upgrade
• Mildenhall pedestrian hit by car dies
• Restorers of Wroxham signalbox seek railway memories of the area