Johnston Press is spending a massive 28m on adding colour to its printing operations this year, including two new Goss press installations.


It is extending Peterborough Web and replacing a 32-year-old press with a single-width press.


The regional newspaper group is adding another single-width press to Portsmouth and is also upgrading its inserting kit at Peterborough and Northampton Web, which is extending its Goss Metro.


However, Johnston Press will close its Burgess Hill printing plant and consolidate its south coast printing into Portsmouth.


The Burgess Hill plant employs 83 staff and uses two old presses that would have needed "substantial improvement" and more colour capacity to remain viable.


Chief executive Tim Bowdler said the Portsmouth spend would create around 10 new jobs and the group was also recruiting at the other plants where it was investing.