The Kent Messenger Group is to combine the strength of two of its established papers to create a new publication, the Medway Messenger.

The first issue will be published on September 7, and will have a morning and afternoon edition.

The new paper will replace the existing Medway Towns edition of the weekly Kent Messenger and the Friday edition of the evening paper Medway Today.

All other editions of the Kent Messenger will be unaffected, and Medway Today will still be published from Monday to Thursday.

Medway Today editor Bob Dimond will edit the new paper and four new journalists will be taken on to deal with the extra stories the paper will carry.

The new paper will be much bigger than the old 96 page Friday issue of Medway Today, devoting up to 220 pages to the Medway towns of Gillingham, Chatham and Rochester.

KM managing director David Lewis said: "We wanted to combine the strength of our two titles in Medway to give our readers and advertisers the best possible newspaper.

"Our readers will have a paper that will last all weekend and our advertisers will get all the benefits that a longer shelf life and greater pagination bring.

"Combining the Kent Messenger and Medway Today will also mean that the KM's circulation should rise, making the KM the best-selling weekly paper in Britain, an even better proposition for our advertisers."

KM associate editorial director Simon Irwin added: "We showed our commitment to the people of Medway when we changed the name of our evening paper from Kent Today to Medway Today. Now we are giving them the weekend paper they deserve."

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