Two jobs are at risk after a regional publisher’s publicly-funded Welsh language news service closed after just five months.

Newsquest has confirmed the closure of Corgi.Cymru, saying the project is not “economically sustainable”, with one full-time and one part-time member of staff at the title now at risk of redundancy.

The closure of the service comes just two months after Newsquest announced the closure of The National Wales, a primarily English launguage title launched on St David’s Day 2021.

Corgi.Cymru was set up in April by Newsquest and Huw Marshall, pictured, who was also involved in setting up The National Wales.

It was one of two grant recipients from the Books Council of Wales to fund Welsh language digital news services from April, along with established operator Golwg360, with each site due to receive £100,000 a year until 2026.

However, HTFP understands Newsquest has not received the full annual amount as the grant is paid monthly.

The closure has prompted the National Union of Journalists to call for an urgent review by the Welsh government over money granted for the project, which saw Golwg360’s grant halved from £200,000 and led to staff cuts at the latter Lampeter-based news service.

In 2017, Newsquest voluntarily paid back a £245,000 grant to the Welsh Government following the closure of its Newport copy-editing hub.

Gavin Thompson, Newsquest’s regional editor for Wales, said the publisher was grateful to the Books Council for its support “which enabled the launch of Corgi Cymru earlier this year”.

He added: “Unfortunately, it became clear that even with Books Council support and given the challenging economic environment, building a new Welsh-language proposition at this time would not be economically sustainable.

“We have been engaged in constructive discussions over the future of the service in recent weeks, following the closure of The National Wales.

“We will begin a consultation process with affected staff, starting today.”

Helgard Krause, chief Executive of the Books Council, added: “After careful consideration and discussion, the Books Council and Newsquest have agreed that it is in the best interest of both parties to discontinue our funding agreement and close the Corgi Cymru digital news service at the end of October.

“We have been in regular contact with Newsquest over the last few weeks and we are sorry to see Corgi Cymru close, but we do understand that circumstances have changed since the grant was awarded, due to the very challenging current environment. Our thoughts are with the staff who are affected by this decision.”

Nick Powell, chair of the NUJ’s Welsh Executive Council, had written to Dawn Bowden, Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport in Wales, about the closure of Corgi.Cymru and calling for an inquiry into its funding.

Nick wrote: “The NUJ has written to you twice with questions about the process by which Newsquest was granted public money for the Welsh language news service Corgi Cymru from the Books Council of Wales.

“Our disquiet grew following Newsquest’s decision to end The National, especially given the decision to entrust money to them again despite its earlier failure with the subbing hub at Newport.

“Since the news that Newsquest have now decided to cease Corgi Cymru the NUJ calls on the Welsh Government as a matter of urgency to ensure that a review takes place on how Newsquest were allowed access to public money.

“This review should also look at why the Books Council of Wales got itself into the position of splitting its previous budget for Golwg 360 between Golwg and Newsquest.

“The NUJ believes that in future any request by Newsquest for public funding in Wales should be subject to scrutiny by yourself as minister and by the relevant Senedd committee.

“We also urge you to instruct the Books Council of Wales to take urgent action to ensure that monies are repaid and that Golwg is adequately funded to provide a full Welsh language news service.

“It should be a matter of priority that the Golwg 360 website is not threatened and indeed is restored to the position it was in before its funding was halved.”

The Books Council of Wales will announce the process for re-tendering the remainder of the Welsh Language Digital News Service grant funding from 2023 onwards over the coming weeks.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are currently discussing next steps with the Books Council about the funding arrangements.”