Up to 50 jobs at regional publisher Archant could be at risk after plans to outsource the printing of some titles was announced.

The company has revealed proposals to allow a third party to print some of its weekly newspapers in London, Kent, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and the South West of England, which it says would save on transport and other costs.

It means up to 50 of the 97 jobs at Archant Print’s Thorpe Print Centre, near Norwich, could be at risk, although the company still plans to print its titles from across Norfolk and Suffolk there.

The announcement comes less than 18 months after an £8m upgrade was completed at the print centre in September 2009 to allow it to produce virtually all the group’s four daily and around 60 weekly titles.

Archant Print MD Nick Schiller said: “We keep costs constantly under review and the very substantial 20pc increase in the cost of newsprint and ink in 2011 has further emphasised this need.

“We are proposing to move to printing on a single night shift in Norwich, built around our four daily titles.

“Single-shift use of printing plants is commonplace in the UK and if this proposal proceeds it would ensure we retain a strong regional press centre in Norwich to support all our East Anglian daily and weekly titles”.

Currently the print centre operates a multiple shift pattern six days a week and a consultation has now started with staff over the outsourcing plans.