A regional daily has reorganised its reporting team and increased its localised online presence in a bid to better serve its patch’s “key areas”.

The Northern Echo has carried out a restructure which sees its journalists split up into teams covering Darlington, County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

The Newsquest-owned Echo, based in Darlington, has also launched dedicated channels on its website and new Facebook pages for news in each of those four areas.

Rival publisher Reach plc recently launched dedicated online titles for County Durham and North Yorkshire, as well as a South Tyneside and Durham edition of Newcastle daily The Chronicle.

Announcing the move, Echo editor Karl Holbrook, pictured, said: “We are proud to serve the individual communities that make up this amazingly diverse patch.

“That’s why we are splitting up our team to better serve our key areas from Darlington and Teesside to County Durham and North Yorkshire.

“These key areas will have their own team of dedicated journalists reporting on the issues that matter most to people on the ground.

“Each new team will curate a bespoke section of our website dedicated to these key areas and make sure their content is showcased better than ever to the audiences that want it.

“It will be a work in progress and further changes will be announced in the coming weeks as we look to launch newsletters and other exciting developments built around our different communities and audiences.

“We are so excited about these changes and hope our readers support it by bookmarking the new sections of the website and by following the new Facebook pages.”