Express and Star Ltd is centralising its series of free weekly newspapers.

Editorial staff based at district offices on the Chronicle are due to move to the company's head office in Wolverhampton at the end of the month.

The switch will affect around ten journalists and sub-editors who share the offices with E&S reporters and photographers as well as circulation and advertising staff.

Reporters will still be expected to cover meetings and attend court on their individual patches.

Danny Farragher, chairman of the NUJ's Wolverhampton branch, said: "The official reason is it's a cost saving measure. As far as I am aware there's been no mention of any jobs going at all and there's no reason to believe that there will be."

The nine Chronicle titles are distributed to approximately the same circulation areas as the Express and Star editions and cover Wolverhampton, central and south Staffordshire, Kidderminster, Stourbridge and parts of the Black Country.

Both Express and Star editor Adrian Faber and managing director Alan Harris declined to comment.

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