Weekly Staffordshire newspaper, the Sentinel Sunday, is to close at the end of this month.

The Northcliffe Media Group-owned newspaper, which was launched in 2000, has blamed poor circulation and a lack of advertising sales for the decision.

It will publish its last edition of September 30.

The decision follows a strategic review by divisional publisher Staffordshire Sentinel News & Media, but management have told staff there will be no redundancies.

Instead, staff will join the team of daily sister paper the Sentinel, which will receive new investment.

Sentinel Sunday, which was originally launched as a broadsheet, switched to tabloid format 14 months ago.

According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, Sentinel Sunday's circulation had dropped to 11,886 for the first half of 2007, a fall of 15.9 per cent year on year.

Its sister title, the Sentinel, reported circulation of 63,796 for the same period, a fall of nine per cent from the previous year.

In the same period, The Birmingham Post increased circulation by 1.1 per cent - the best performance morning regional newspaper in the UK.

Circulation was up to 12,685 for January to June this year, from 12,550 in the same period last year.