Mike Lowe has resigned as editor of the Bristol Evening Post.

Staff were told of his departure this morning, when it was also announced that Mike Norton is to become editor-in-chief of the Bristol Evening Post and the Western Daily Press.

Currently editor of the Derby Evening Telegraph, he will take up the newly-created editorial role at Bristol United Press on July 4.

Mike’s appointment will see him edit the Evening Post, and in addition the editor of the Western Daily Press, Terry Manners, will report to him.

Mike, (pictured), who has edited the Derby Evening Telegraph since 2001, is a Bristolian who attended schools in the city before leaving in 1982 to study English at the University of Hull.

He joined the Telegraph in 1997, becoming deputy editor in 1999.

Previous to that, Mike, (41), worked at the South Wales Echo in Cardiff and the Hull Daily Mail, and began his career as a trainee reporter with a Hull-based agency.

He said: “I am extremely proud to be returning to my home town to edit the paper I grew up with.

“There are many challenges ahead and I look forward to helping to shape a successful future for both the Evening Post and the Western Daily Press.”

Bristol United Press managing director Tim Kitchen said: “Having worked with Mike in Derby for more than seven years, I’m looking forward to working with him again in his new role as editor-in-chief in Bristol.

“His new title will allow a much closer working relationship between the two editorial departments.”

Mike Lowe (51) was editor of the Evening Post for almost nine years.

He joined Northcliffe Newspapers in 1983 as a sports writer in Lincoln and went on to edit The Citizen in Gloucester and the Derby Evening Telegraph, before leaving to take up the editorship at Bristol.

Evening Post deputy editor Stan Szecowka will edit the paper until Mike Norton’s arrival.

A successor is yet to be announced in Derby and, in the interim, deputy editor Andy Wright will be acting editor.