TOWARDS the end of 2012, Darlington faced the grim prospect of losing up to 400 long-established jobs.

The Department for Education had announced plans to move the jobs away from Mowden Hall in the town and relocate them on a more modern site, possibly in Newcastle.

The implications for Darlington's local economy were huge but, out of that threat, emerged a campaign which united the town.

The Northern Echo, Darlington Borough Council, MP Jenny Chapman, union officials, and local politicians from rival parties all joined forces to make the case for the jobs to be kept in Darlington. Local people signed petitions in their thousands and the Department for Education took notice.

The campaign came to a happy conclusion this morning with the official opening of Bishopsgate House, the superb new offices for the Department for Education, located behind the old Town Hall.

By working together, the local community was able to come up with an innovative plan to keep those 400-plus jobs in a town which could ill afford to lose them.

These are extremely tough times for the public sector and relentless austerity measures to balance the nation's books have taken their toll on funding and resources. Tough decisions have had to be taken, controversies have inevitably flared, and the council has taken plenty of flak.

Criticism is a necessary part of democracy and, sometimes, it has been justified. But the opening of Bishopsgate House, and the saving of hundreds of local jobs, is genuinely a shining example of a local authority working in partnership with the community for the greater good of the local community.

The Northern Echo is proud to have played its part.