A new county-wide website has been launched to bring together 16 historic local newspaper brands in a single online platform.

SussexWorld is the latest in JPIMedia’s rollout of its ‘World’ brand which includes national title NationalWorld and eight other city-based sites.

It brings together 16 existing news sites which were previously the companion sites for JPI’s newspaper titles in the county.

They include the Chichester Observer Series, Littlehampton Gazette, Worthing Herald series, Eastbourne Herald, Hastings Observer series, Sussex Express, Mid Sussex Times, Crawley Observer, West Sussex County Times, West Sussex Gazette and the Brighton Indy.

The site’s homepage will carry the biggest news from across the county, with menu tabs drilling down to local news pages.

The East Sussex tab contains a further menu for Brighton & Hove, Eastbourne, Hastings & Rye, Bexhill & Battle, Lewes, Rother, and Wealden news, while the West Sussex driulls down to pages for Chichester, Worthing, Horsham, Crawley, Mid Sussex, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, Midhurst & Petworth, Arun and Adur.

There are also special sections for key areas of storytelling including Sport, Brighton and Hove Albion, What’s On, Retro, Lifestyle, and Opinion.

Announcing the change, editor-in-chief Gary Shipton promised “a much better user experience than was possible with 16 smaller sites.”

Gary, pictured, told readers: “We have launched SussexWorld to ensure you not only get your local news but the very best coverage of events outside where you live that you might want to travel to.

“One thing that has become clear over the lockdown is that people want news which is open and compassionate, told in a way that doesn’t talk down to readers. You want us to be as proud of the areas where we live and work as you are.

“All our local journalists are based in Sussex. Many of our reporters are renowned experts in their fields of specialism – everyone from Sussex arts editor Phil Hewitt to Albion correspondent Derren Howard.

“We will involve you, our audience, in our journalism, and actively encourage you to shape our reporting on the issues that matter to you.”

Speaking to HTFP, Gary added: “The first day was a huge success. The new site had a bigger combined audience than the previous 16 achieved at any time so far this year.