It will now result in fewer job losses than originally proposed, the company has told staff.

Fairfax’s suburban, regional and rural publishing business Australian Community Media (ACM) announced plans earlier this month to revitalise its newspapers and websites with new digital-first publishing technology and new equipment and training for journalists and sales staff.

New England staff were briefed on Thursday on the final shape of ACM’s operating structure in the region after a period of consultation with staff and the community.

The changes affect the Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth Times, Namoi Valley Independent, The Armidale Express and Express Extra, Goondiwindi Argus, Country Leader, Walcha News, The Inverell Times, Glen Innes Examiner, The Guyra Argus, Tenterfield Star, Moree Champion and the Border News.

The popular AgQuip Field Days at Gunnedah and coverage of the Tamworth Country Music Festival are not affected.

Business manager of ACM’s New England operating group Jason King will oversee the restructure.

Led by group managing editor Juanita Greville and group sales manager Ian George,  the restructured editorial and sales teams will deliver new-look newspapers, more digital content and enhanced advertising solutions.

As a result of feedback, an extra 3.3 full-time equivalents have been added to the structure.

The company expects voluntary redundancies of about 18.5 full-time equivalent positions from the New England operating group. About 8.6 of these will be from editorial and are mostly production roles.

The new ways of working will be implemented around the middle of 2016.

Director of ACM John Angilley thanked staff and community members for their constructive feedback.

“It is heartening to see that the regional and rural communities we serve care as much as we do about our journalism, our local content and our trusted mastheads," Mr Angilley said. 

"With the continued support of our audiences and advertisers, this plan for the future will help our newspapers and websites remain sustainable and vibrant local voices.”

Staff have been briefed on a voluntary redundancy program, new roles created in the restructure and the implementation schedule for new technology and training.

Mr Angilley said the new digital-first publishing system to be rolled out at New England publications was already in use at more than 60 newspapers across the country, including the Illawarra Mercury and the agricultural masthead The Land.

“Our staff will adopt more efficient ways of working and new technology to improve how they provide news and information to their communities, with our journalists and photographers continuing to do what they do best - telling local stories," he said.

“This is a substantial upgrading for our newsrooms with new systems, digital-first editorial production and quality-checking processes plus a vastly better local sales approach.” 

The new technology and new ways of working have already been introduced at ACM mastheads in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Illawarra, South Coast and south-west regions of NSW.  

The ACM network includes hundreds of newspapers and websites serving regional, rural and suburban communities in every Australian state and territory.