AS managing director of Grimsby and Scunthorpe Media Group (GSMG), which operates the Grimsby Telegraph and its associated titles, I welcome the news that a committee is being established at North East Lincolnshire Council to thoroughly investigate the authority's future spend on recruitment advertising.

As reported in the Telegraph last Wednesday, a Motion was passed that will lead to this in-depth review of where the council chooses to advertise its vacancies. This follows an initial decision, which was taken some months ago, to withdraw the council's recruitment advertising from the Grimsby Telegraph and its associated titles in favour of publishing them in the authority's own Linc Up publication and on the authority website.

GSMG will co-operate fully with this review in the hope that the two organisations can work together for the benefit of the people of North East Lincolnshire in order to help the council to reach a conclusion that best serves the interests of local taxpayers.

In recent years a number of local newspapers across England have raised concerns that they are facing pressure from council publications, which compete for advertising. That concern has now reached Parliament and the Government has asked the Audit Commission to carry out an inquiry into council-run publications, like Linc Up, and the impact they have on regional newspapers.

This concern is shared by GSMG.

I firmly believe that a local newspaper helps to support the community in which it sits. The Grimsby Telegraph, Life and our thisis platforms play an important role in informing the public of North East Lincolnshire and campaigning on its behalf.

For example, our Axe The Toll On Health campaign highlighted the injustice of patients having to pay Humber Bridge tolls for treatment on the north bank, while people visiting prisoners were allowed free passage.

For many years we have backed the fight for fishermen's compensation, which seems eventually to be reaching a conclusion. And, recently, we have highlighted the massive impact the changes in the port rates structure will have on many of our local businesses.

Over the years the daily sale of the Telegraph has held up well, despite significant challenges posed by rapid changes in media usage. The Telegraph together with our free newspapers and our thisisgrimsby website, reaches 138,287 local people over the course of a week, which equates to almost 60 per cent of local adults, the vast majority of whom live and work in North East Lincolnshire. This alone shows we are an integral part of local life.

We are very concerned about any reduction in council recruitment advertising in our titles. Obviously such a move would impact on our revenues and ability to invest in our business at a time when the recession is putting a severe strain on commercial operators.

However GSMG is also concerned about the potential loss to our readers, who for years have used the Grimsby Telegraph as a source of job opportunities.

Independent research shows that 73,000 local people turn to the Grimsby Telegraph first if they are looking for a job. In addition, our digital jobs platform, jobsite.co.uk/grimsby has approximately 15,000 visits every month. We believe that, in print and on the internet, we offer the local authority the widest audience for their recruitment advertising.

We also believe it is important that organisations such as North East Lincolnshire Council support independent local media. As local newspaper publishers, we have a deep commitment to and passion for the community we serve. We are independent of any political party or vested interest and report without bias. We will continue to do so in the interests of the people of North East Lincolnshire, whatever the outcome of this decision.

The Telegraph is proud of its track record as a champion of the local community.

Just one recent example is our Bounce Back initiative, which has won praise from local people and businesses for helping them in these difficult times.

We support local charities and good causes. Bottom's Up, a campaign to raise money for bowel cancer patients at Grimsby's Diana, Princess Of Wales Hospital, is fast reaching its target of £150,000 and this success follows the staggering £250,000 we helped to raise for the Pink Rose Appeal, to equip a new breast cancer unit at the hospital.

We are hoping for a good start to the football season from Grimsby Town after our Back Our Boys campaign helped their fight for survival earlier this year.

And our efforts to support the two In Bloom campaigns in Grimsby and Cleethorpes have been officially recognised by their organising committees.

All the above is possible due to the support of our advertisers, the special relationship we have with our readers and, of course, the talent and commitment of the 193 local people we employ in Grimsby and Scunthorpe.

Ours is a local workforce and will remain so. A restructure of our business operations over the last 18 months has seen printing and production move from Telegraph House, but the staff employed in our advertising sales, news gathering and management teams remain locally based, as we continue to play a vital and unique role at the heart of our community.

Mark Price, managing director GSMG.

A selection of views from readers is also printed in today's Telegraph. Here is one of those letters:

EVERY day we hear about regional and local newspapers being in trouble. Local reporters may soon be creatures of the past, with local news being produced on a regional basis. As if!

In some areas dailies are becoming once or twice a week editions, with reporters queuing for PR jobs in councils as true reporting opportunities dry up.

The Telegraph, like the Mariners, needs to be kept alive and kicking.

If it is true North East Lincolnshire Council is withdrawing local Grimsby Telegraph advertising I find this extremely worrying and potentially sinister. The end result could be, like Epping, no local paper at all, with only council produced "news" finding its way into local households. It is essential that we keep ours.

I have criticised the Telegraph for biased reporting, being unfair to the Labour Group and the Party.

But at least I can complain to a real local newspaper which purports to be unbiased, working in good journalistic tradition and covering local facts and events.

A local authority newspaper, with or without adverts, will unashamedly tell a story to give its ruling group the most favourable coverage possible. That's what it's there for.

So it's not simply "up the Mariners" but also "long life to the Telegraph".

Muriel Barker, Welholme Avenue, Grimsby.