Reach plc is to continue publishing local democracy reports in some areas hit by its website closures – but on a different platform.

The company confirmed last week that 13 of its ‘Live’ network of websites would close as part of the current round of cutbacks which will see 450 jobs disappear across the business.

It has now emerged that most of the sites will be closing this Thursday, 30 November, with ten of them publishing farewell messages to readers.

However two of the sites – Northants Live and Herts Live – have said they will continue to publish stories from the Local Democracy Reporter for those areas – but on another website yet to be confirmed.

The sites due to close are: Bedfordshire Live, Berkshire Live, Buckinghamshire Live, Hampshire Live, Herts Live, Norfolk Live, Northants Live, Oxfordshire Live, Suffolk Live, Sussex Live, Staffordshire Live, Dorset Live and Wiltshire Live.

Of those, all have published ‘farewell’ messages except the last three listed.

HTFP has asked Reach for clarification on whether those three sites will be closing this week or at a later date, but the company has not so far not responded to requests for comment.

A total of 320 journalism jobs overall are being lost as a result of the cuts, but Reach has not put a figure on the number of jobs which will be lost specifically as a result of the website closures.

The similarly-worded messages on each of the sites due to close read: “From November 30 we will no longer be updating this website.

“The site was launched with the aim of creating fresh and original journalism that would appeal to audiences in the county.

“We believe we have done that and are really proud of the way the site has been a voice for readers.

“However, it is no secret that changes in the media landscape and decisions made by large tech platforms have made life much harder for all media businesses.

“As you can probably appreciate this has been a very difficult time for our staff.

“We wanted to share this news with our readers because we are hugely grateful for all the feedback and support we have received since launch.”

The Northants Live message added: “As part of our commitment to the BBC-funded Local Democracy Service in Northants we will be continuing to publish stories from our Local Democracy Reporter for this area but on another website, we will update this article later with a link.”

A similar message appeared on Herts Live, alongside confirmation that its paid-for sister print publication the Hertfordshire Mercury will still continue to be published.

Of the 13 websites to close, 10 saw a decrease in the number of unique users in October 2023 compared to the same month in 2022, according to the latest IPSOS figures.

The exceptions were Hampshire Live, which posted a 41pc increase in unique users, Oxfordshire Live and Suffolk Live, which each saw 19pc audience growth.

The table below shows how all the Reach plc sites performed in October, ranked by year-on-year percentage change.

Sites due to close are listed in bold.

Title	Oct ’22	Oct ’23	% Change
gloucestershirelive.co.uk	1,139,200	2,361,895	107.33
gazettelive.co.uk	1,167,878	2,247,544	92.45
cambridge-news.co.uk	1,085,343	1,548,290	42.65
hampshirelive.news	512,830	726,798	41.72
bristolpost.co.uk	3,181,097	4,297,501	35.09
aberdeenlive.news	211,610	270,822	27.98
oxfordshirelive.co.uk	114,193	136,417	19.46
suffolklive.com	172,628	205,832	19.23
cheshire-live.co.uk	686,291	799,060	16.43
derbytelegraph.co.uk	1,586,307	1,824,641	15.02
leaderlive.co.uk	181,497	185,869	2.41
essexlive.news	1,326,156	1,340,661	1.09
norfolklive.co.uk	109,625	109,609	-0.01
birminghammail.co.uk	11,333,748	10,977,367	-3.14
belfastlive.co.uk	1,729,112	1,671,732	-3.32
dailypost.co.uk	1,750,283	1,640,558	-6.27
devonlive.com	1,947,699	1,785,020	-8.35
plymouthherald.co.uk	1,539,602	1,405,166	-8.73
football.london	1,210,812	1,101,911	-8.99
kentlive.news	1,607,327	1,407,666	-12.42
inyourarea.co.uk	4,575,022	3,941,350	-13.85
business-live.co.uk	254,462	214,606	-15.66
nottinghampost.com	3,402,188	2,813,915	-17.29
glasgowlive.co.uk	2,128,134	1,677,218	-21.19
edinburghlive.co.uk	2,087,225	1,637,851	-21.53
buckinghamshirelive.com	74,636	58,000	-22.29
sussexlive.co.uk	650,492	505,219	-22.33
footballscotland.co.uk	531,091	412,428	-22.34
somersetlive.co.uk	1,518,966	1,156,449	-23.87
hertfordshiremercury.co.uk	393,655	297,605	-24.40
examinerlive.co.uk	6,727,350	4,812,950	-28.46
walesonline.co.uk	9,290,412	6,576,153	-29.22
lincolnshirelive.co.uk	923,067	638,300	-30.85
stokesentinel.co.uk	2,177,306	1,438,179	-33.95
lancs.live	3,373,005	2,214,924	-34.33
cornwalllive.com	1,672,667	1,062,282	-36.49
getsurrey.co.uk	1,582,912	996,663	-37.04
manchestereveningnews.co.uk	16,063,497	9,986,905	-37.83
getreading.co.uk	672,365	406,165	-39.59
chroniclelive.co.uk	8,986,519	5,378,218	-40.15
liverpoolecho.co.uk	11,873,105	7,053,603	-40.59
mylondon.news	5,196,132	2,830,679	-45.52
bedfordshirelive.co.uk	165,322	86,969	-47.39
hulldailymail.co.uk	2,242,996	1,137,853	-49.27
leeds-live.co.uk	3,197,299	1,377,654	-56.91
dorset.live	455,648	195,753	-57.04
northantslive.news	367,993	137,129	-62.74
wiltshirelive.co.uk	317,981	116,504	-63.36
staffordshire-live.co.uk	535,286	177,566	-66.83
coventrytelegraph.net	3,162,374	1,036,772	-67.22
leicestermercury.co.uk	3,982,192	1,128,590	-71.66