Bucks Herald editor David Summers is to be the new editor of the Northampton Chronicle and Echo.

His move follows the departure of Mark Edwards to sister paper the Peterborough Evening Telegraph in June.

All three newspapers are owned by Johnston Press.

David, (36), has been in his role at the Bucks Herald for almost six years, moving from the Somerset Standard and Guardian in Bath in 2002.

He was recently appointed to the position of group editor in Central Counties Newspapers South.

He will be leaving The Bucks Herald on Wednesday.

While he has been at the helm, the paper has seen some of the biggest changes in its history, including the launch of Bucks Herald TV and a commuter edition of the main newspaper, given away free to rail passengers using the Aylesbury to Marylebone line every Thursday. The Aylesbury Commuter Herald was named Free Newspaper of the Year at the Johnston Press editorial conference and awards earlier this year.

He said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at The Bucks Herald, it has been both challenging and rewarding, and I will greatly miss the newspaper and the many people I have worked with and met in the community.

"There is a fantastic team of people at the Herald, and it has been great to live and work in Aylesbury Vale, an area in which I have lived most of my life."

The paper also ran a joint campaign with MPs and local authorities protesting to the then deputy PM John Prescott about housing growth in the area, where 59,000 new homes in 25 years could be built under Government plans.

And in 2005, it ran a special Friday edition to bring its readers news of a dramatic police raid on its patch by the anti-terrorism unit investigating the 2005 London bombings. The 12-page A3 supplement was full of reaction, in-depth reports and photographs.