SLOWLY but surely, a dale devastated by job losses is getting back on its feet.

Two years after isolated Weardale, in County Durham, learned that it was losing 147 well paid posts at Lafarge Cement's Eastgate plant, new projects are getting under way that will bring a wind of change sweeping through its village communities.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds are being poured into this rural corner of the region but opinions are divided over whether they are being wisely spent.

The plant's closure started a drain of nearly 50 young workers, many with families, sparking fears for the future of schools, churches, pubs and shops.

But young people have always moved away from places like Weardale. The challenge for a task force set up to revive its economy is to find ways of drawing them back, educated and affluent.

New, upmarket housing developments will no doubt attract families in search of a ' village lifestyle but there is a desperate need for homes that local people can afford.

For the task force, the dale's future prosperity does not lie in bringing what diehards call "proper jobs" - in manufacturing - but in long term, sustainable developments largely based on technology and tourism.

At Eastgate, villagers say the first thing that should happen is that the 40-acre cement works site should be cleared.

There, as everywhere, opinion is divided over whether the force's most ambitious proposal, an energy theme park dubbed Eco-Disney, will ever go ahead.

After he took over as chairman last year, John Hamilton had the difficult job of "selling" the force's concepts to residents at a series of presentations and public meetings.

His reward was a clear mandate from the fifth of dales residents who joined in a consultation exercise.

Mr Hamilton, who grew up in Wolsingham, concedes the real action started a year late.

He said: "I can understand people's frustration and even scepticism, but we have to move on.

"Realistically, manufacturing is declining everywhere and it is not feasible to think we can get back the old kind of manufacturing jobs.

"We have to be more revolutionary in our thinking. The task force cannot create all the jobs that people want. We can only create the conditions for them to happen."

Wear Valley District Council's energetic regeneration department is convinced that the dale's chief assets, its people and its spectacular natural beauty, will help it win through.

Thanks to new technology, workers looking for a "green" lifestyle or a less pressured environment, can operate from isolated areas like the dale and are already searching for office space.

Iain Phillips, chief executive of Wear Valley District Council and a task force member, said: "Some people are afraid that our strategy is all about tourism, yet it is only a small part of what is happening.

"We have to move away from an economy depending on manufacturing and create sustainable projects that will provide prosperity in Weardale for decades to come.

"Weardale has suffered 100 years of economic decline and we cannot hope to reverse that overnight."