WEAR Valley householders will not be charged a penny extra for district council services next year.

A budget freeze agreed this week keeps the district's element of council tax at the current level, despite a massive spending programme tackling issues identified by residents such as crime and unemployment.

Major new projects will tackle deprivation, address crime and youth problems, stimulate business and create jobs, boost recycling and improve housing and the environment.

A Young Person's Forum could herald the setting up of a youth council, £50,000 will be targeted at tackling youth crime and an extra £150,000 is going into creating jobs.

Leisure and arts services are the main casualties. Cuts totalling £500,000 will also mean 14 job losses, although six posts are already vacant and the rest could be absorbed in other departments.

Cost-saving measures include shortening opening hours at leisure centres in Crook, Bishop Auckland and Willington, saving £70,000. Another £75,000 would be clawed back from the leisure contract at Glenholme, in Crook, while shortening pool hours at Wolsingham School would save £10,000.

Arts development would be cut back to one part-time post.

Council house rents go up by 2.9 per cent and there are small rises in leisure centre charges and other fees.

Council leader Olive Brown said the council had been allocated extra Government funding, but the level was still the third lowest in Durham.

She said: "We are committed to listening and responding and we are proud of what we have achieved in this budget.

"The council has made massive strides because it needed to. We have a new, efficient management structure and a committee system that works.

"Our leisure centres are not closing, but we can't afford to keep them open at times when they are not being used."

The district collects council tax for Durham County Council and Durham Police Authority, who have both agreed hefty increases.

Durham County Council has set its tax increase at 9.17 per cent - three times the inflation rate, while the police authority rise is 23.5 per cent

Charges for 2003/4, excluding parish council precepts, will be: Band A £775.97; B £905.29; C £1,034.62; D £1,163.95; E £1,422.61; F £1,681.26; G £1,939.92; H £2,327.90.