Bishop of Southampton's new role

The Bishop of Southampton, the Right Reverend Paul Butler, is to leave the post to become the new Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham.

Bishop Butler, 53, has held his current position for five years.

He will be the first Bishop to be enthroned under the new title following the retirement of the Right Reverend George Cassidy.

Bishop Butler is a leading figure in Church of England Evangelical circles, with an interest in children's issues.

Educated at Wycliffe Hall Oxford and the University of Nottingham, the father-of-four has a wife, Rosemary, and was appointed the Bishop of Southampton in the Diocese of Winchester in 2004.

He said: "In being given the enormous honour of becoming the next Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham I greatly look forward to working with both Church and community to see this happening.

"I am returning to a county I grew to love in my previous years living here. I will seek to be out and about across the county and city learning what is happening in both Church and community amongst every section of the community."