Daily Lincolnshire Echo to become weekly

A Lincolnshire daily newspaper is to change to a weekly title to secure its long-term future, its editor has said.

The last daily edition of the Lincolnshire Echo will be on 14 October. It will then be published every Thursday.

Five compulsory redundancies are expected to be made as a result of the move.

Acting editor Steven Fletcher said it was not an easy decision but one that had to be made for business reasons.

Mr Fletcher said: "We've been looking at the sustainability of the paper.

"Market research that we've done shows that people's reading habits have changed, there are fewer six day a week readers."

Staff at the publication, which has been a daily newspaper for 118 years, were told the news on Thursday night.

"It's not been easy but it is a decision that has been needed to be made for business reasons.

"I'm not dreadfully upset in the sense that we're going to be able to give people a brilliant weekly paper," Mr Fletcher said.

The layout of the paper will be redesigned before the first weekly edition is printed. The new publication will cost £1.