Archant's offices in Lower Brook Street, Ipswich

MEDIA company Archant Anglia, whose titles include the East Anglian Daily Times and the Ipswich Star, has announced proposed changes within its Suffolk and Norfolk business units.

Following a review, Archant is proposing to create one combined editorial production unit in Norwich to serve all its Norfolk and Suffolk newspapers, including four daily and 19 weekly titles.

The company says it believes this will enable it to be more flexible and efficient in managing its day-to-day editorial resources.

If the proposal goes ahead, a majority of Suffolk’s editorial production work will move to Norwich, putting 14 production roles in Suffolk at risk of redundancy.

A small editorial production team will remain based in Ipswich, along with reporters, writers and photographers, meaning there will still be about 50 front-line journalists based in Suffolk.

Archant also proposes to change the way it publishes its daily titles by sharing more content between the Ipswich Star and East Anglian Daily Times and also between the Norwich Evening News and Eastern Daily Press.

This puts a further four editorial roles at risk in Suffolk and six in Norwich. Consultation with all staff at risk of redundancy has begun.

Managing director Johnny Hustler said: “Archant Anglia, like many media businesses, continues to face extremely challenging trading situations. It is important we do all we can to reduce the cost of producing our newspapers, while retaining as many front-line reporting staff as possible.

“The future of our business depends on creating compelling local content and delivering that to our audiences through our traditional print and emerging digital products, but at a cost we can afford.”