GOVERNMENT Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong took the controls when diggers moved in to start work on a £2.5m bypass in her constituency home town.

The kilometre of road through Crook will open up land for industry and homes, and reduce town centre traffic by up to 30 per cent.

It will take the A689 south from a roundabout at West Road, opposite Crook Football Club, along the route of a former railway line to Prospect Road, which is to be widened.

Contractor Balfour Beatty expects to be working for 32 weeks and will have up to 40 people on site at peak periods.

Ms Armstrong, who is also MP for North-West Durham, said: "I am very pleased that at long last this has happened. All my lifetime people have been talking out it. The road will open up part of Crook for industrial development and homes, bringing new employment and housing opportunities.

"It is very difficult to get new roads these days. Environmentally, we look at new road developments extremely carefully. This has been given the go ahead because it is a priority."

Crook Councillor Bob Pendlebury, Durham County's cabinet member for the environment, said: "Another benefit will be that it will take traffic from the town centre and reduce pollution for the 30 houses in Commercial Street, which is very narrow.

"We are carrying out an environmental assessment before and afterwards to measure the change."