Guardian's first hyperlocal site launches in Leeds

The first of the three Guardian local sites has launched.

Leeds run by local beatblogger John Baron will be followed by Cardiff and Edinburgh in the near future

Digital editor Emily Bell explains all

The local project, although small and highly experimental, has been in the pipeline for some time, and I'm pleased to see the first of our blogs rolling out after a great deal of hard work from the team. There'll be more to tell about the progress of the project as we roll out the other launch cities of Edinburgh and Cardiff, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the blogs develop over time in line with community response and participation.

Guardian's beatbloggers announced

The first of the Guardian's beat bloggers have been appointed.

Media Guardian has announced that

as part of our experimental Guardian Local initiative. The Local project is a small-scale community approach to local newsgathering, and will focus on the three politically engaged cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds.
Tom Allan, Hannah Waldram and John Baron have been based at the Guardian's offices in Kings Place this week to undergo training and will be starting work on their beats of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds respectively from next week. The Local blogs will be launched during the first half of this year although no dates have been confirmed.