Big Issue South West editor Tim Lezard has lost his job as a result of cutbacks, writes Ruth Addicott.
As reported last week, Lezard was under-going a two-week consultancy period over redundancy.
It has now been confirmed and the move is understood to have prompted fears among staff that there could be further cuts. There are also concerns the South West edition could close altogether.
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Around six staff work on the title full time but there is now only one editorial position, held by a designer. According to sources, the bulk of the editorial for the South West title, apart from TV and listings, will be managed by the team at the Welsh edition in Cardiff.
Lezard, who will continue to freelance for the title, put the magazine in the news earlier this year with his campaign to find out why a 20-year-old Big Issue vendor, Sean Wildman, died three weeks after leaving prison.
He told Press Gazette: “I am just saddened that all my work in establishing a strong South West feel to the magazine, apart from the success of our Sean Wildman campaign, has been for nothing.”
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The Big Issue has editions in Scotland, Wales, the North of England and London. Last year saw the closure of the Midlands edition.
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