COMMUNITY safety and environmental improvements are top of a council's list of spending priorities for the next year.

Sedgefield Borough Council is responding to calls from the public to clean up their neighbourhoods by investing in the two key areas of concern.

The council expects to boost the fund by up to £25m with the sale of land for development, including the Cobblers Hall area of Newton Aycliffe.

The council plans to spend about £5m of the proceeds a year regenerating run-down areas of the borough, including Dene Bank, Ferryhill, Ferryhill Station and west Chilton.

Despite being one of the safest areas of the country to live, residents say they are worried about crime and anti-social behaviour.

To tackle this, the council is setting aside £680,000 from the 2005/06 budget to improve community safety.

Six community wardens and a team co-ordinator will be appointed, two of which will be paid for by Great Aycliffe Town Council and will have responsibility for patrolling Newton Aycliffe's town park.

Council leader Bob Fleming said: "The 2005-06 budget is about regeneration in its widest sense.

"It allows significant growth in the key areas of environmental services and community safety, which are clear priorities for the council and public.

"It also offers the prospect of major capital spending initiatives, which could have a significant impact on transforming parts of the borough."

The council did come under fire from opposition councillors for increasing its rates by three per cent and basing its promises on taking £800,000 from reserves.

Deputy leader of Sedgefield Liberal Democrats, Ben Ord, said: "We still have the highest council tax bills in England and we wanted to see a zero per cent increase. The overall bill has gone up by around 109 per cent in ten years."

Director of finance Brian Allen said the council would try not to use the full £800,000, which had to be calculated into the budget to allow for delays in receiving large capital receipts and to ensure the accounts are robust.

He said: "On paper, the borough does have a high Band D council tax rate, but in reality very few people pay that - 89 per cent of properties are below band D."