BOGUS claims from the chief executive of Northumberland County Council Steven Mason, who has said the Northumberland Gazette has a “healthy presence” in West Northumberland, have been be proved wrong by the latest industry figures.

The Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research (JICREG) figures for the Hexham Courant ’s entire readership area, (see table below) shows that the presence the Gazette has in the area is so low, that the North Northumberland title does not even feature.

Covering 61,000 households and 117,000 adults, the Courant’s core circulation area takes in not only West Northumberland, but parts of Derwentside and Cumbria.

The figures show that the Courant is read by 30,802 of those adults, resulting in a 26.3 per cent penetration.

Defending the council’s decision to withdraw public notices from the pages of the Hexham Courant , Mr Mason has also previously claimed that no individual newspaper achieves a significant penetration in the west of the county.

Figures for the whole county show that The Sun is the only paid-for newspaper which rivals the Courant coming top of the table with 27,666 readers, representing 10.47 per cent of the adult population.

But the Courant is hot on the heels of the national daily title, coming second, read by 26,455 adults in Northumberland, (10.01 per cent) every week.

In comparison, the Gazette , in eight place, reaches just over 10,000 fewer adults in Northumberland, with a readership of 16,226, reaching 6.14 per cent of adults.