Whether it’s a snooker legend wanting to operate a sports lounge or a supermarket looking to start selling alcohol, new laws threaten to take away the public’s right to know.

This month, a company linked to snooker player Jimmy “The Whirlwind” White submitted a licensing application to allow alcohol sales, entertainment and late-night refreshments at his planned sports lounge in Kingfield.

The application seeks permission to sell alcohol on-site from 10am to 1.30am daily, host regulated entertainment until 2am, with live commentary until 2.30am, and serve late-night refreshments from 11pm to 1.30am.

Meanwhile, Londis is seeking a licence to sell alcohol for off-sales between 7am and 11pm daily from its store in Station Approach, West Byfleet.

Under new Government proposals, applications like these, which tell residents about plans for alcohol sales, late-night refreshment or entertainment, might never appear in local newspapers again.

It forms part of two separate Government measures to end printed notices, the second removing the requirement to publish local authority governance changes in newspapers.

There are now concerns that these plans would shroud local communities in secrecy.

The Government’s Licensing Taskforce, which made the initial recommendation to scrap alcohol licensing notices in local papers, was set up to review the Licensing Act 2003, which applies to England and Wales. The taskforce was overwhelmingly made up of representatives from the hospitality and night-time industries, with media not represented on the group.

At the same time as the licensing reforms, a provision in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill would remove the legal requirement for notices publicising changes to local authority governance arrangements to be published in local papers.

The proposals have received widespread backlash.

News Media Association (NMA) chairman Danny Cammiade, who is also chief executive of Tindle Newspapers, which owns this publication said: “Local news media in print and digital provide a highly trusted and independent environment for public notices to appear in, with local journalists often reporting on the content of the notices.

“Developed with funding and expertise from Google, the industry’s Public Notice Portal has increased the reach of public notices online, with the print requirement remaining essential for ensuring those who cannot, or prefer not to, use digital technology can access the notices.

“Removing alcohol licensing notices from local papers would undermine this work and leave local communities shrouded in secrecy. Ministers must change course and abandon this misguided plan.”

The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee has warned that around 10.2 million adults, about one in five in the UK, still lack the digital skills to find such notices online.

NMA chief executive Owen Meredith said: “Pubs and local papers go hand in hand. They are community hubs, rooted in place, fostering connection, and acting as a glue that binds neighbourhoods together.

“Yet the Government’s misguided proposals for secret alcohol licensing notices would damage local community cohesion by making decisions around hospitality venues less transparent, ultimately harming both pubs and local papers.”