A few stories on The Greenwich Wire carry the bylines of “Local Democracy Reporters”. This is part of a BBC-funded scheme to ensure local councils are covered properly in local media. The Greenwich Wire has been a partner in the scheme since November 2018, and so receives some stories as part of it. Here’s some more on why and how this came about.
What is the Local Democracy Reporting Service?
The LDRS was set up by the BBC in 2017 to address the decline of local council reporting. This decline followed cutbacks at the major local news groups, which then lobbied the government about the issue. We joined the scheme in 2018 and receive stories as part of it, which we can use in our own coverage.
Companies can apply for contracts to host reporters, which are then paid for by the BBC with licence-payers’ money. In London, the service is dominated by Reach plc and its MyLondon website.
Each Local Democracy Reporter is assigned to cover a number of local councils. In London, this is usually three boroughs per reporter, giving the capital a far lower level of coverage than other major English conurbations such as Greater Manchester and Merseyside. We believe there are many flaws with the system, which have grown as the big media groups have continued to cut back on their staff numbers, putting more pressure on the service. We have serious concerns about the operation of the contracts in London and have spoken out about this in public.
But the LDRS does produce good stories from time to time, and occasionally a corking scoop, so we remain a part of it.
Why does The Greenwich Wire use this copy?
We have one part-time reporter/editor (Darryl). Being part of the LDRS gives us some backup and some ability to cover stories that Darryl can’t.
It also means we can monitor stories from neighbouring boroughs – or from City Hall – and if they’re relevant to a Greenwich audience, we can bring them to you.
Does this cost us any money?
No. It’s basically having access to a free newswire. The only cost was an evening preparing the application form. It’s no different from the national press having access to the Press Association or Reuters.
Who are the reporters?
Cameron Blackshaw is the local democracy reporter for Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley. He is based at MyLondon. Past reporters were Joe Coughlan (September 2022 to January 2025 at MyLondon) Kiro Evans (November 2021 to June 2022 at MyLondon); Lachlan Leeming (December 2019 to November 2020 at the News Shopper), and Tom Bull (June 2018 to September 2019 at the News Shopper).
Ruby Gregory is the local democracy reporter for Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth and is also based at the MyLondon website. She previously covered Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking & Dagenham. Her predecessors were Robert Firth (October 2021 to April 2025 at MyLondon), Gráinne Cuffe (November 2019 to August 2021, mostly at the News Shopper) and Bridie Witton (June 2018 to September 2019 at the News Shopper).
Kumail Jaffer has been the Local Democracy Reporter for the Greater London Authority and London Assembly, based at MyLondon, since August 2025. Previous reporters were Noah Vickers (January 2023 to May 2025 at the London Standard), Until December 2022 this role was held by Joe Talora (December 2020 to January 2023, mostly at the London Standard) before that it was Jessie Mathewson.
Nick Clark is the local democracy reporter for Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking & Dagenham, and is employed by Social Spider CIC, but based at Social Streets in Bow.
Very occasionally, you may see the names of other reporters covering other boroughs or Kent, whose stories have been made available for us to use.
Who runs the scheme?
The Local Democracy Reporter Scheme is run by the BBC, with a small team based in Birmingham. However, the reporters are employed by the host news organisations and answer to them rather than the BBC or us. That said, their stories do occasionally appear on the BBC News website and they are trained to appear on TV or radio should the need arise.
I’ve got some more questions!
Drop us a line at greenwichwire[at]flyovermedia.london. If you want to know more about the scheme itself, visit the BBC Local News Partnerships website.
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