Why Ipswich needs independent news, and why it needs you

This week is Indie News Week — a national campaign, now in its third year, celebrating the independent news outlets that are strengthening democracy, holding power to account and connecting communities across the UK.

The campaign's theme this year is "No News is Bad News." It is a phrase that feels almost too apt. More than 4 million people in the UK live in areas with little or no reliable local reporting. Without trusted information, communities struggle to engage meaningfully in local life, challenge decisions that affect them, or simply understand what is happening on their own doorstep.

Ipswich is not one of those places — yet. But that is not an accident. It is a choice, made every day by readers and businesses who choose to fund Ipswich.co.uk's work.

What is happening to local news

The Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2026, one of the most comprehensive studies of news consumption in the world, makes uncomfortable reading for anyone who cares about journalism. Trust in news has fallen to its lowest level since the Reuters Institute began tracking it. Interest in news has fallen by 13 percentage points since 2021. Concerns about misinformation are at a record high.

At the same time, the platforms and corporations that have consumed the advertising revenue that once sustained local journalism are more powerful than ever. Big Tech has hollowed out the economic model that kept local reporters in courtrooms, council chambers and community meetings. The outlets that remain are, in many cases, doing less and less of the work that actually matters.

This is the journalism desert — and it is not always obvious that you are in one. A town can have a local news website that publishes dozens of stories a day and still have almost no one doing the journalism that actually makes a difference. Content is not the same as journalism. Volume is not the same as value. Sites can be littered with banner ads, most of their articles locked behind a paywall, the rest a rewrite of a press release — and still carry the word "news" in their name.

Ipswich deserves better. We think Ipswich.co.uk is it.

What we do and why it matters

Twenty-one months ago, Ipswich.co.uk did not exist. Today, we are the most influential publication in the town, reaching, engaging, informing and influencing more than 100,000 people every month.

In that time, we have published more than 3,100 stories. We have covered Suffolk County Council's takeover by Reform UK and reported on what it means for the town — including the moment Reform's Ipswich chairman told us, hours after winning a majority, that voters "do not need" local media.

We have investigated how Suffolk's SEND services failed thousands of children and families, and tracked the progress — real but incomplete — that has followed.

We have championed thousands of women in Suffolk who have been medically gaslit by their doctors and denied access to specialist women's healthcare provision in their county.

We have interrogated Ipswich's crime figures, reported on the organised criminality that remains a visible presence on our high street, and asked why the government's national crackdown has repeatedly overlooked our town.

We have given a voice to our town's young people, to families fighting for justice for their children, to communities navigating change.

We have done all of this without banner ads interrupting our articles. Without hiding our journalism behind a paywall. Without a corporate owner telling us which stories to chase and which to leave alone. Without writing lazy content that damages this town for cheap clicks.

We are based on Upper Brook Street, in the heart of Ipswich. Our journalists attend council meetings, walk the high street and knock on doors. We are part of this community — not a content farm operating from the outskirts.

Jonathan Heawood, executive director of the Public Interest News Foundation, which runs Indie News Week, puts it plainly: "Independent journalism is a powerful tool for communities to make sense of local stories and hold power to account, but too many outlets are still fighting to survive."

We are one of them.

We're a team of two people going toe-to-toe with media outlets that receive license fees, government subsidies, payouts from tech companies, and large sums of advertising revenue from international advertisers.

We work around the clock, seven days a week, for a fraction of minimum wage.

What your membership makes possible

We currently have 9,200 readers subscribed to Ipswich.co.uk. Only 140 of them are paying subscribers. We want 200 by the time everyone has read this email. Membership costs £4.75 a month — less than a cup of coffee or pint of half-decent beer — or £57 a year.

Here is what we are committing to do with that support:

Keep our journalism free for everyone. Our articles will never sit behind a paywall. No reader in Ipswich should have to pay to understand what is happening in their town. Public interest journalism is no use to anyone if the public can't access it.

Keep our site banner ad-free. No disruptive advertisements. No pop-ups. No invasive tracking. Just a beautifully designed website that respects your time, attention and privacy.

Go deeper on the stories that matter. The planning applications that will shape your street. The local government decisions that will shape our town. The complex issues that will shape you and your family's lives. We will keep going further than anyone else with in-depth, nuanced reporting that makes it easy to understand what's happening, why it matters and what you can do about it.

Hold our elected leaders to account — impartially. Whoever is in power, our reporting will be the same: fair, thorough, and free from political influence. We are nonpartisan. That is not a marketing line — it is an editorial commitment that we believe we demonstrate every day.

Today alone we published six articles that were only possible because we were sat in the council chamber from 18:00 yesterday evening. Not one of the Star's 10+ reporters were present at the meeting, however, filed under "Local Government" was "Horrible stains and lack of loo roll - we visited Ipswich's worst public toilet".

Planning Ipswich’s future in the shadow of local government reorganisation

Ipswich Borough Council is legally required to begin writing a new blueprint for the town’s future development, but the authority doing the writing may not exist by the time it’s finished. It’s one of the more peculiar and consequential paradoxes thrown up by local government reorganisation.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

‘Commercially sensitive’ regeneration grants approved but opposition councillors expected to challenge decision

Ipswich Borough Council approved £1.284m in regeneration grants yesterday, but the decision for one application, believed to be for around £750k, faces an imminent challenge, with opposition councillors expected to call it in over concerns about the use of public funds.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

Council parking charges to rise from 20 July

Ipswich Borough Council has approved increases to parking charges at its off-street car parks and on-street bays, with new tariffs taking effect from 20 July 2026.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

Council votes to back Ipswich Central in BID ballot

Ipswich Borough Council has voted to support the renewal of the town centre Business Improvement District, backing a fifth consecutive five-year term that would see Ipswich Central manage a £4.6m programme of town centre investment between 2027 and 2032.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

Ipswich names new City of Culture bid director as council takes lead

Ipswich has appointed Amy Vaughan as Bid Director and voted to create a new company to lead its UK City of Culture 2029 campaign, with a detailed bid due to be submitted in August.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

Ipswich alcohol order consultation to launch next week

Ipswich Borough Council has agreed to launch a public consultation on extending the borough-wide order that gives officers the power to tackle alcohol-related anti-social behaviour in public spaces, with views being sought from 23 June.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

Maintain a high street presence. We are not going anywhere. While everyone else moves out the town centre, our newsroom on Upper Brook Street keeps our journalism in the community, and our community in our journalism.

Give young people a voice, a platform and a future. We were the first media company in the country to sign the Power of Youth Charter. Our youth culture publication, 1473, gives young people in Ipswich the chance to tell their own stories, develop real skills and see themselves reflected in the media. We partner with local organisations to run youth-focused journalism projects that give underserved communities a voice.

Invest in media education. Workshops, work experience, contributing opportunities — we are opening the door to journalism for young people who might never have imagined it was for them. We provide work more local work experience placements than companies 400x our size.

Independent — by Ipswich, for Ipswich. No political parties. No corporate owners. Reader and local business support is what protects that independence — and it is the only thing that can. We're creating an entire ecosystem that is unashamedly for this town, but it needs your support.

What members get

In return for your support, you will receive early access to our best content, delivered straight to your inbox. You will be invited to join our open newsroom sessions — a chance to meet the team, see how decisions are made, and tell us what stories matter to you. You will have a direct line to our journalists and the ability to comment on articles.

But most importantly, you will have done something that very few readers of any publication in the country can say: you will have directly funded the journalism your community depends on. And that really matters.

The bottom line

In its 2025 survey, Indie News Week found that 23% of participants had not known it was even possible to pay a subscription or make a donation to their local independent news provider. If you are one of them, now you know.

Ipswich.co.uk exists because readers believe that their town deserves real journalism — not content, not press release rewrites, not articles interrupted by ads and locked behind paywalls. We have built something worth protecting. But we cannot protect it alone.

Become a member today for £4.75 a month or £57 a year. If you are already a member, thank you, and please share this with someone who is not.