Four regional daily editors are getting new enhanced roles in a major restructure by a regional publisher announced today.

Portsmouth News editor Mark Waldron, Blackpool Gazette and Lancashire Post editor Nicola Adam, and Sunderland Echo Gary Oliver will take up new group-wide publishing editor roles at publisher National World as their titles join its ‘City World’ structure.

As part of the same move, the Shields Gazette will also join the same set-up and its editor Ross Robertson will move to take up the reins at the Echo from Gary.

Liam Kennedy, editor of Newcastle World, will add the Shields Gazette to his portfolio as a result of Ross moving to Sunderland.

Kelly Brown, currently head of print at the publisher’s Sussex titles, has been appointed editor of the News to replace Mark, pictured, who will maintain publishing responsibility for Portsmouth and also oversee the London World, Birmingham World and Bristol World websites in his new post.

Nicola will be responsible for National World’s Liverpool, Manchester, the North-West of England and Yorkshire titles in her new remit, while Gary will add Newcastle to his North-East city portfolio along with Glasgow and Edinburgh.

New editors are now being recruited to run Nicola’s old titles, meaning the Gazette and the Post will regain individual editors for a second time following two previous mergers of the roles.

According to National World, Mark, Nicola and Gary will “play a pivotal role in maximising digital opportunities for the City World portfolio to develop new revenue opportunities that support and complement editorial and commercial content plans as well as growing digital audiences to build new revenue streams”.

The changes mean National World’s Cities group will now include websites in 15 UK cities, with each site led by a locally-based editor, supported by Cities editor-in-chief Nancy Fielder and publisher Laura Collins as well as Mark, Nicola and Gary.

The changes will come into effect on Monday and are timed to coincide with the latest National World campaign, We Love Our Cities, which champions and celebrates the individual identities of the cities served by the group.

Nancy said: “Our team has seen huge success over the last year with the launch of new City sites and changes to help some of our longest-established titles reach even more readers and viewers.

“We are incredibly proud of how our fantastic reporters adapt to ever-changing audiences and are really looking forward to welcoming the five new Cities into new ways of working.”

In a concurrent development, the publisher has also announced the launch of the National World Daily Press Division to be led by publisher Tim Robinson and managing editor Neil Pickford.

The division will focus on “reinvigorating” the print editions of eight National World dailies – the Edinburgh Evening News, Portsmouth News, Yorkshire Evening Post, Sheffield Star, Lancashire Post, Blackpool Gazette, Sunderland Echo and Shields Gazette.

A dedicated team of press managers and content curators will work together across the portfolio, while a new publishing model and set of innovative print designs are being developed by this group.

The new team will include senior press managers Mike Hill and Ian Arkle and local press editors Sarah Hall, Charles Smith, Helen Gourlay and Simon Carter, who will work closely with National World’s central design hub and core content team.

Tim said: “This is a really exciting opportunity to re-imagine the fortunes of the daily newspaper and to put the reader back at the heart of the creative journalistic process.

“The new daily press team is made up of a wealth of experienced regional journalists who care passionately about newspapers and the people who read them.

“And there will be a host of new opportunities for our advertisers and corporate sponsors to reach a highly engaged audience in new, innovative ways.”