A new crop of community correspondents will be able to enjoy the financial fruits of their labour under plans drawn up by a North West publisher.

The CN Group, which has been running hyperlocal news sites for its Cumbrian patches since last summer, is now recruiting a dedicated correspondent for each one.

But rather than just submitting the latest parish pump news, the correspondents will also enjoy a share in any advertising revenues they generate.

Advertising slots on the 19 hyperlocal sites will be sold for a minimum of six months and any that are directly secured by a correspondent, will see them net 25pc of the revenue.

It is believed to be the first revenue-sharing scheme of its kind operating on any site run by a UK local newspaper publisher.

Nick Turner, the CN Group's head of digital content development, told HTFP: "It's a new twist in this hyperlocal area that all newspapers are dabbling in.

"It's not a get-rich quick scheme but would give them a bit of money in their pocket. If someone did well it could get them around £80 to £100 a month."

Community correspondents will gain their own login and password to the hyperlocal websites, such as Brampton Local, where they can add news content remotely from around their town or village.

Newspaper staff will be tasked with post-moderating online content as well as looking out for bigger stories with follow-up potential.

Whereas CN's current hyperlocal websites carry news from print editions such as the Cumberland News and North West Evening Mail, the new correspondents' content will sit alongside that of the regular reporters based on its news value.

CN Group staff have already held some meet and greet recruitment sessions to speak to people about becoming correspondents and the company has teamed up with the University of Cumbria to offer training.

Nick added: "These are not meant to be replacing journalism but increase visibility of our sites in these areas.

"We had an event in Barrow for the Evening Mail and are now in the middle of a recruitment process. Adverts have been placed and we're getting a lot of interest from people.

"One of the sites covers part of Whitehaven which is one of the UK's most deprived areas so we're looking at a model there involving some public funding."