Departing Northern Echo editor Peter Barron has told readers the paper needs “fresh ideas and energy” to take it into a new era.

The long-serving news chief is to leave the regional daily at the end of the months after 17 years in the chair.

In a first-person piece published on the paper’s website, he thanked readers for their support as well as hinting at the reasons for his decision to step down.

He also highlighted some of the Echo’s victorious campaigns, including its fight for shorter waiting times for heart by-pass operations following the death of Echo photographer Ian Weir.

Peter on his first day as Northern Echo editor back in 1999

Wrote Peter:  “After 17 years, it is with a heavy heart that I have decided to step down as editor of The Northern Echo at the end of this month.

“Growing up in the North-East, it became my ambition to be a reporter for the “Great Daily of the North” but I never imagined that I would end up as its longest-serving editor.

“When I joined the staff in 1984 – after a three-year “apprenticeship” on the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph – I was both thrilled and terrified.

“When I became editor 15 years later, inheriting one of the most talented and committed editorial teams in the regional press, it was one of the proudest days of my life.

“There have been many highlights, plenty of mistakes, lots of laughter and quite a few tears along the way but I will always be immensely grateful for the opportunity I was given and for the incredible support of my family, colleagues and The Northern Echo’s wonderfully loyal readers.

“I’ll take most pride from the successful campaigns which the Echo team has fought in recent years, especially raising money to help build the Butterwick Children’s Hospice, banging the drum to bring the Hitachi train-building factory to County Durham, and cutting heart bypass waiting times after the death of friend and colleague Ian Weir who waited eight months for an operation.

“However, with my 54th birthday approaching, the time feels right to hand over to someone new.

“It is no secret that these are difficult times for the regional press and it needs someone with fresh ideas and energy to take the paper – and its rapidly-growing website – into a new era.”

Echo deputy chief photographer Ian Weir was just 38 when he died of a heart attack while waiting for a heart bypass operation in 1999.

The tragic loss sparked colleagues to launch a campaign entitled A Chance to Live which was aimed at reducing hospital waiting times for patients needing heart surgery.

The cause was taken up by Darlington MP Alan Milburn, a personal friend of Ian’s who was, at that time, health secretary in Tony Blair’s government.

The campaign is credited with having triggered a major expansion in coronary care which has saved hundreds of lives.