An in-house newspaper, produced for residents and businesses by Lincoln-shire County Council in the UK, will have to completely overhaul the way it does business, as it currently costs more than £5,000 a week to produce.

The public interacts with councils differently now than in the past, due to online and digital media, according to the council.

County News was launched in 2002 to save money through redirecting £143,000 of the £149,000 that was spent on recruitment and public notice advertisements in regional publications. Although initially the newspaper was meant make a £16,000 profit, council report figures show current costs, with income and savings accounted for, are £289,150 a year.

Council members are considering rebranding the paper, using money saved on radio advertising and editorial features on local radio stations as a way to build a larger audience, Spaldingtoday reported.

“Although it is popular with older readers, recent focus groups tell us that we need to do more to attract readers in other age groups. For these reasons, we are currently exploring different options to refresh the publication,” Janet Marshal, the council's head of communications, told Spaldingtoday. “County News is amazing value. It is issued 11 times each year to more than 320,000 homes and businesses in Lincolnshire at a cost per address, per year of less than the price of a litre of milk.”