COMMUNITY leaders in east Durham are fighting back, after a report dubbed it the worst place to live in Britain.

A study by consumer information company Experian, released this week, said residents in the district of Easington have the poorest quality of life in the UK.

Yesterday, bosses of the district council, primary care trust and police division were united in the defence of their record.

The study scored quality of life by looking at crime, education and health.

Easington was joint worst along with Barking and Dagenham in the South-East.

But Chief Superintendent Trevor Watson, of Easington police, said the report was based on inaccurate information.

"As a police officer, I am interested in evidence and facts," he said.

"They haven't looked at actual crime or recorded crime, which I find somewhat disappointing."

He said recent measures had made a huge impact on key problems such as drugs, anti-social behaviour and illegal off-road biking. Although overall crime in the district had risen by 4.2 per cent this year, this was due to a change in the way offences were recorded and was below the regional average, a rise of 11.7 per cent.

Dr Roger Bolas, chief executive of Easington Primary Care Trust (PCT), said that poor support from central government had restricted the trust's work.

Dr Bolas said: "There are some fabulous things going on here, even without a great deal of money. We could do a lot more if we had fair funding."

The former mining heartland, which has a long history of poor health, is the worst funded PCT in England, receiving only 80p per head for each member of the population - a shortfall this year of £25.4m.

Better off areas, such as Darlington are funded at 107p per head and Westminster in London is funded at 136p.

The trust and the council are lobbying the Government for a fairer share of the cash.

The PCT's achievements so far include a reduction of 25 per cent in deaths from heart disease over the past two years and a hugely successful project that has reduced hip and neck fractures from falls in the elderly by 53 per cent - helping more older people remain independent.

Paul Wilding, chief executive of the district council. said: "In many ways, this is Easington fighting back. We know we lag behind national standards in many respects, but we felt that the report is ignoring a lot of improvement that has taken place over the last three or four years."