By Sίlvia Amaro and Emmeline Booth
Sidcup residents have taken making the news into their own hands after feeling that their town was not being adequately covered by local newspapers.
Sidcup has 12,130 households and is covered by a local edition of the free Chronicle newspaper series. But Margaret Shepherd , a retired local, said: “There is a need for wider local news coverage.”
Into this gap has stepped the Sidcup Community Group which was launched in 2002 aiming to improve communication in the community. It is increasingly finding itself filling the void created by the lack of local newspaper coverage.
The group launched its own news website in January 2011 and it has already received almost 42,500 visits.
Paul Laundy, secretary for the group, said the group has eight committee members and does not see its main role as journalistic.
“The role of the group is to represent the views of local residents. We do not aim to be a local newspaper. Stories are included for two purposes. Firstly, they advise residents of issues which may be of interest or concern. But importantly, by updating news on a regular basis, residents find the site useful and keep coming back.”
The site has broken bigger stories, including the news that Waitrose had pulled out of its commitment to open a store in Sidcup.
When asked about why the group began publishing a website, despite already having a fortnightly print newsletter, Laundy said: “A web presence is now an absolutely essential means of communication. I read recently that the printed newspaper has a maximum 10 year lifespan before everybody reads via the internet.”
Here Sidcup resident Marie Boorman, 27, gives her views about local news coverage in the town:
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