Newsquest, the owner of the Basingstoke Gazette and other major titles around the South, has announced a major new £1.5m per annum investment in local journalism across the UK.

The company, which also owns the Daily Echo and two other weeklies in Hampshire, is looking for 50 new digital journalist roles across the UK.

Of these new roles, 32 will be local digital journalists assigned to specific brands at newsrooms in Glasgow, North Wales, Essex, Hampshire, Dorset, Bolton, Lancashire, Darlington, Durham, Yorkshire, Hereford, Wales, Somerset, South London, Sussex, Worcester, Oxford, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Cumbria.

Three more roles will be for local Digital Sport Journalists in Bolton, Glasgow and Southampton.

Henry Faure Walker, CEO of Newsquest Media Group said: “The focus that we have placed on growing engaged local digital audiences over the last few years is paying off, with most of our sites now reaching almost 80% of their local population.

“This coupled with the success we are having with digital subscriptions, gives us the confidence to launch a major expansion in local journalism. This investment underlines our commitment to those towns and cities where our local brands have been the number one news provider for decades.

“We look forward to welcoming new talented digital journalists to join our teams in local newsrooms embedded in communities up and down the country.”

If you are interested in applying for any of these journalist roles please go to www.newsquest.co.uk/careers.