A hyperlocal news site is set to go into print with the launch of a pilot newspaper this month.

The Port Talbot Magnet has been running for a number of years after the town’s local newspaper the Port Talbot Courier closed down in 2009.

Now the team behind the website plan to launch a free monthly newspaper and a pilot edition with a limited print run will be out at the end of this month.

Ahead of the launch, journalists at the website launched a “pop-up newsdesk” at the Aberafan Shopping Centre at the weekend, encouraging readers to provide news, sport stories, photographs and reviews for the new publication.

In an article about the new newspaper, Magnet director Rachel Howells, said: “Port Talbot has been without a newspaper since the Guardian was closed in 2009 and the Magnet has been working ever since to establish a replacement news service.

“We’ve always thought, why should a town with so much to offer be without its own local paper?

“We felt now was the right time to bring a printed newspaper back to Port Talbot and we are looking for local people to be at the heart of it.”

The Magnet has also joined forces with Cardiff University and creative agency We Are Behaviour to launch an app to make it easy for people to submit stories for the newspaper.

The “Little J” app is available on Android smartphones and tablets, on Facebook and via a website and allows citizen journalists to write reports for the title.

Rachel added: “We hope local people will take the chance to make this newspaper their own. We know it will be a huge benefit to the town and we want to ensure everyone has a voice in it.”