From next month, the Stafford edition of the Express and Star is to be delivered free to homes and business in the mid-Staffordshire area on Wednesdays only, while remaining paid-for the other five days.

The move will coincide with the end of the Stafford and Stone Chronicle, a weekly free title covering the two towns, printed on Wednesday afternoons and available from Thursday mornings.

Its axing follows the centralisation of all Chronicle Series reporters and sub-editors at the Wolverhampton HQ 12 months ago.

Stafford is the most northerly edition in the Express and Star patch and underwent a successful relaunch in June 2005.

No-one from Express and Star management has so far made any official comment on the plans, but some journalists have expressed unease about the idea.

One Wolverhampton staffer told HTFP: "There are serious doubts as to whether this can actually be delivered, given that they have reduced staffing in the Staffordshire offices, and we now have only one reporter based in Stafford."

The journalist said the paper had already begun drafting in reporters from the neighbouring Cannock office to help out with the Stafford edition, although they also have their own edition to produce.

The Express and Star sold an average of 130,216 copies a day in the months between July and December last year according to the most recent ABC figures.

Only the Manchester Evening News has a bigger circulation among regional papers, but a significant part of its its 153,724 circulation is down to its adoption of the part-free model.