The journalist who oversaw the Lincolnshire Echo’s move from daily to weekly publication has been confirmed as its new editor.

Steven Fletcher, left, was seconded to be acting editor of the Echo this summer after the sudden resignation of Jon Grubb.

It meant he had to overseee the frequency change, which was already at the planning stage when Jon quit.

Now Steven, who had previously been deputy editor of the Nottingham Post, has been appointed Echo editor on a permanent basis.

Said Steven:  “I’m looking forward to joining Lincolnshire Media. My new role is a great opportunity to apply my learnings from the Nottingham Post to another newspaper in the group.

“We have got a great team at the Echo and everyone has been rightly proud of the papers published in our first month as a weekly.

“We have re-structured the newsroom and we want to develop our staff so that they can reach their full potential.

“The new look Echo has been well received out in the community, but we know there is a long way to go to get the paper exactly where we want it to be.”

Steven had joined the Post in 2002 having begun his career at his home town newspaper, the Halifax Evening Courier.

He made his name as the paper’s crime correspondent at a time when gun and gang crime was rife in the city, often beating the nationals to major stories.

He was then promoted to the newsdesk, first as deputy news editor, then as news editor for five years.

Early in 2010, Steven was again promoted to deputy editor after Martin Done left for a county council PR role.

Mark Price, managing Director of Lincolnshire Media and Grimsby and Scunthorpe Media Group, said: “Steven has done a terrific job for us as acting editor.

“He has led his team through tremendous change at the Echo and produced a fantastic new weekly newspaper.

“He fully deserves this role and I look forward to Steven and our new publisher, Richard Duxbury, forging a strong partnership and taking our Lincoln business to further success.”

Steven will formally join the Echo on 5 December.