A hyperlocal website which first started up in 2009 is trialling a fortnightly print edition.

Lichfield Live was one of the earliest hyperlocal sites when it launched 15 years ago, initially as the Lichfield Blog.

Now editor and founder Ross Hawkes wants to see if there is an appetite for a print newspaper alongside the site’s digital offering.

He has launched the Lichfield and Burntwood Independent as a free fortnightly publication, initially for four editions.

Said Ross: “We’ve always been told Lichfield and Burntwood needed a newspaper, but we still weren’t sure whether that would be the reality when the first papers were taken out to different locations.

“But the response has been fantastic and has far exceeded our initial hopes with many locations seeing their supply of newspapers picked up in double quick time.

“Our small team of volunteers has now distributed all of our 5,000 copies to the different locations and we’re so grateful to all of the collection points who have allowed people to pick up a paper from their premises.

“Some have asked whether more places can stock it in future, but at this stage we’re still in a pilot phase so we now want to monitor the remaining four editions in the trial in order to make a decisio:n on what the future of The Lichfield and Burntwood Independent might look like in the longer term.”

Added Ross: “As someone with my professional roots in local journalism I’m a huge believer in the value of newspapers and news more generally to communities – but we have to recognise that we need to make sure that a newspaper can support itself going forward.

“As a community interest company run entirely by volunteers, we need to ensure that we have enough advertisers and members to be able to make The Lichfield and Burntwood Independent a viable publication in the long term and cover the considerable costs associated with a printed newspaper.

“We’re hugely grateful for the support we’ve already received, but we know that in order to carry on publishing beyond the trial and to grow the number of copies we can distribute we need to find more advertisers and members to support out work.

“So the message is very much that if a locally-produced, locally-focused newspaper is something you would like to see in the long term, please do support us during this pilot so we can understand whether continuing with print will be viable in the coming weeks.”

Ross began his career as a reporter on the now-defunct Lichfield Post in 1998 before starting the Lichfield Blog in 2009.

The next edition of the Independent is due to be published this week.