THE finishing touches are to be carried out on a programme of improvement work designed to rejuvenate a County Durham village.

A facelift of Ushaw Moor is already under way, but yesterday Durham County Council announced it was to spend a further £125,000 on completing the scheme.

Aimed at reviving the centre of the village and bringing a new confidence to the community, the latest approved phase will begin with the replacement of worn-out pavements in the Broom Lane area.

Starting at the village's crossroads and running to a new housing development, work will include resurfacing of the pavements and laybys.

New street furniture, including bollards and litter bins, is to be installed and run-down concrete railings are to be replaced with cast iron fencing.

At the crossroads, where utility cables have been installed underground, resurfacing work is to take place.

Service Direct, the County Council's construction group will be carrying out the work which is expected to take about eight weeks.

Chris Tunstall, the county council's deputy chief executive for the environment, said yesterday: "We have planned the work to take place over part of the school holidays to try and keep the disruption down to a minimum.''

He added: "We are also aiming to avoid using traffic lights wherever possible, but they may still be necessary for health and safety reasons,''

The scheme, which is gradually bringing a complete facelift to the former mining community, has been funded by a partnership including the County Council, City of Durham Council, Durham Villages Regeneration and Brandon and Byshottles Parish Council.

In the earlier part of the scheme, work included the renewal of worn-out pavements in front of the Flass public house.

Footpaths have also been created at the Cockhouse Lane and Station Road areas.

Ushaw Moor's village green has also been extended and new public art work has been installed around the central open space.