Three separate public sector bodies in Northamptonshire could be teaming up to launch their own combined newspaper.

At present the county’s police produce a newsletter called ‘Home Beat’ solely about force matters.

But plans are now being put forward to scrap that and launch a quarterly publication featuring news from Northamptonshire Police, the county council and primary care trust.

The Northampton Chronicle and Echo reports that a new steering group will be set up to look into the plans more seriously following the police authority’s AGM on Tuesday.

Authority member and county councillor Joan Kirkbride said: “At the moment we rely on the local media to be our advocates. Well, that’s not their job, it’s their job to sell newspapers.

“I do think it’s essential that we do this if we want to get the confidence (in the police force) up out there, otherwise they only read what they see in the newspapers, which is not always advantageous.”

Police authority chair Deirdre Newham said that, if given the green light, plans for publication would be put in motion quickly.

Elsewhere, the Bucks Free Press reports that five Buckinghamshire council magazines costing £300,000 to produce are to be merged into one.

The new 32-page pilot will be trialled next year with 200,000 copies produced, four times per year.

It will feature news from Buckinghamshire County Council with additional content focussing on either Wycombe, Chiltern, South Bucks or Ayelsbury Vale district councils.

The plans are part of a wider scheme called ‘Pathfinder’ which aims to save cash by merging certain services between the various councils.