A DECISION to film the controversial TV programme Benefits Street in a North-East town has led to an innovative online campaign to show the area in a far more positive light.

The Northern Echo and The Evening Gazette are jointly backing the Positively Stockton campaign which encourages ordinary people to show their pride in the district of Stockton by posting photographs, videos and stories online.

There will also be a special event, called The Loudest Whisper, which will start and end in Kingston Street on the Tilery estate where the show, dubbed "poverty porn" by critics, will be filmed.

Benefits Street is a Channel 4 programme which focuses on the lives of people living on benefits. Some commentators, including Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham, have said the show is unrepresentative but the producers say the programme actually does depict people struggling financially in a good way.

Stockton Borough Council has been involved in setting up the Positively Stockton website which can be found at positivelystocktonontees.co.uk and social media accounts have been set up to kick-start the campaign.

A Twitter account at https://twitter.com/positivelySOT has already had positive messages including beautiful pictures of the Tees and one which thanked a Stocktonian for handing in a lost handbag without a thing stolen at the weekend.

Leader of Stockton Council, Cllr Bob Cook, said: “We did everything in our power to persuade the producers of Benefits Street to turn their attentions elsewhere. Sadly, you can’t win them all.

“What became clear though, amid all of the controversy surrounding the ‘will they won’t they’ film the series here, was that lots of people agreed with us that this is not a good thing for the borough.

“So, we’ve decided to focus our energies on turning a negative into a positive. This is a borough-wide campaign for the whole of Stockton. We’re delighted that our local media; The Gazette, Northern Echo and BBC Tees area in agreement with us and have agreed to unite in their support of us.”

Benefits Street is expected to be aired in March 2015 and the Positively Stockton campaign – also known as “Psst…” features the Loudest Whisper event that will involve a positive message being whispered around the entire borough starting and ending on Kingston Road. It will make use of human chains and use all kinds of transport including horses and rowing boats.

The event, which will also raise money for Comic Relief, is being organised by musician Mike McGrother. He said: "There’s an abundance of community pride in Stockton; it’s just not our style to go shouting it from the rooftops. But if we’re faced with a series that seeks to paint us in an unfair light on national television, we shouldn’t take that lying down."