THE high cost of buying private properties in Darlington has ruled it out of a joint Tees Valley renewal project.

Instead of supporting Darlington in a bid for £1.3m, three authorities divided the money between them for their own schemes.

On Tuesday, the cabinet of Darlington Borough Council was warned that competitive bidding for housing money in the North-East was going to be more common, with no sure outcome.

Cliff Brown, director of community services, said it had been agreed in March to allocate £1.341m for private sector housing.

That included £414,000 match funding towards a bid for single housing investment pot funding of £1.3m for a specific private sector renewal project.

That bid was part of a joint bid with other Tees Valley local authorities for the acquisition of properties in deprived wards.

But the Government Office for the North-East was concerned at the relatively high cost of buying properties in Darlington and wanted the other four authorities to say that the Darlington scheme remained one of their high priorities.

"Unfortunately, three of the other authorities felt unable to support the Darlington scheme, choosing instead to redistribute the £1.3m to extend their own schemes," said Mr Brown.

"This has significant implications for the council, particularly as the North-East Housing Board proposes from 2006-7 to distribute 100 per cent of the resources previously available to local authorities through a similar competitive bidding process for a range of identified priorities.

"Clearly such a process offers the council no guarantee of future funding and it will have major implications for the way we are able to meet identified priorities in the future. Your officers are seeking meetings with the Government Office to clarify the situation."

It was agreed to keep the £4414,000 match funding from the unsuccessful bid for the private housing sector, to give grants to install ramps, stairlifts and other disabled access, and renovation grants to bring unfit and empty homes back into use.

Both were areas under a great deal of financial pressure. The disabled grant budget for work in progress or out to tender already exceeded the money available

In addition, 28 recommendations had been received from the occupational therapy team for £119,000-worth of work and more applications would follow throughout the year.

Nearly 40pc of the renovation grant budget had also been accounted for and it was estimated that about £800,000 more would be needed compared with the £607,000 available.

Both Three Rivers Housing Group, which manages the Darlington care and repair service, and social services had been consulted on the specific redistribution of the £414,000.