Staff at the Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post are being briefed today on the proposals which will involve single content and production desks for both titles.

Although it will remain a paid-for title, the WDP is set to become a "Metro-style" publication with fewer dedicated reporters and photographers.

Instead it will "harvest" content from other Northcliffe-owned publications around the western region.

The WDP website, www.westerndailypress.co.uk, is also set to be scrapped after managers concluded the title had "no digital future."

Instead it will point to the group's other, more successful regional portals, www.thisisbristol, www.thisissomerset and www.thisisgloucestershire.

However the Bristol centre is to pilot what is expected to become a Northcliffe-wide initiative to turn the thisis sites into "hubs" of local information as well as newspaper companion sites, pulling in content from a wide variety of sources.

A single digital production desk is to be created along with the single print content and production desks.

The Bristol centre currently employs 154 editorial staff of which up to 45 could lose their jobs under today's proposals.

Although reporting and photographic roles on the WDP are under threat, editor-in-chief Mike Norton has stressed that most of the cutbacks will fall on production as opposed to newsgathering roles.

Mike told HoldtheFrontPage: "I have tried to do everything I can to avoid redundancies. However, I have no other option that will ensure the futures of the Evening Post and the Western Daily Press.

"This is about back-of-house production efficiencies and will not affect the amount or the quality of our content. We will continue to provide the best local news and advertising service through our print and digital platforms."

A formal consultation is now under way in which staff will be represented by the National Union of Journalists following its recent successful bid for recognition.

The consultation period is scheduled to end on Monday 2 March.