Eight sub-editors are expected to lose their jobs as Archant pushes ahead with redundancy plans at its Ipswich daily titles.

Management have now completed a 30-day consultation period with staff at the Evening Star and East Anglian Daily Times over the cuts.

In total, the company is seeking around 20 voluntary redundancies from subbing and other production staff as it merges some of the production processes.

Ten advertising designers will be recruited from existing design staff to layout pages in place of the departing sub-editors, earning around £7,000 less per year.

Senior editorial staff such as chief reporters and newsdesk members will write headlines for pages.

Those sub-editors and ad designers wishing to stay on at the papers have until next weekend to reapply for their jobs.

Martin Chambers, secretary of the NUJ's Suffolk branch, said: "The general mood is a mixture of anger, dismay and despair.

"We have just been through a consultation period with the company and it was only at the end of the consultation that they told us how many people are going to be made redundant.

"The whole thing has been a complete farce."

All pay has been frozen at the titles and six reporters who recently left will not be replaced.

Copy will be pooled for the two websites but the newspapers themselves are expected to remain distinct from one another.

Last month Archant revealed that in 2007 its profits rose by 3.4 per cent to £30.5m for the year.

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