On the eve of this General Election, it’s worth while reminding readers just important local newspapers and local journalism matters to the people of Wales. Every month, in outlets like this, nearly 3 million people across Wales visit websites or buy newspapers produced by teams of dedicated journalists and editors who live in the community. This means our news teams have a full understanding of the issues on the ground.

We hold councils and public representatives to account. And where there is no check and balance, it’s all too clear to see how our councils and public bodies veer off course and lose focus on their job at hand: Serving each and every one of use.

But local journalism is under threat.

A decade ago, some 30,000 journalists were employed in the regional press. Today, that figure is closer to 4,000. And newspaper titles have closed or morphed in shells of their former selves as we try to do more with less.

Right now, before the Senedd, is a proposal in the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill that would remove the statutory requirement for councils to publish council tax notices in printed local newspapers. This proposal could have the twin unintended effects of leaving large sections of the population unable to access the notices, and of causing significant damage to the provision of local news in Wales.

The requirement on local authorities to publish public notices in local newspapers ensures that important information is available to the public in a consistent way. Councils are of course free to publicise the notices in other ways but the statutory requirement to publish in local newspapers underpins consistency and transparency. New research shows that local news media in print and digital remains the number one platform used by the public to view public notices.

There is a very real threat that without the public notice requirement, news organisations would have to close and reduce our level of commitment to our local communities.

We all would hate for that to happen. All - except those with something to hide.