SCHOOLS across County Durham have been selected for a shortlist of projects bidding for more than £7m of Government money to improve sports facilities for young people.

Seven projects have been selected from 50 proposals submitted to a Durham County Council working group.

Five secondary schools could share in £7,335,000 available to the area through the Government's New Opportunities Fund, to build sports halls which would also be open to the public.

A sixth, Easington Comprehensive School, has applied for a smaller grant to build a floodlit tennis court.

The group also backed a refurbishment plan for Howtown Outdoor Centre, in the Lake District, which serves schools across the county.

Paul Lamb, deputy headteacher at Wolsingham School and Community College where 880 pupils share a 45-year-old gym, said: "This is going to greatly enhance the range of activities we can offer throughout the whole school year.

"There is no other sports hall in the surrounding area, so it will be a great asset to the whole community."

Geoff Branett, head of PE at Bishop Barrington Comprehensive School in Bishop Auckland, said: "It will be great for our 672 pupils, staff and the community. An extra hall on the school site would be more useful and save us money that we currently spend to use Woodhouse Leisure Centre."

Mike Thornton, headteacher at Greenfields School and Community Arts College, Newton Aycliffe, said: "We recently built three floodlit tennis courts, but there is demand from pupils and community groups for the better indoor facilities that this scheme would bring."

Other schools chosen for the bid are Deerness Valley, Ushaw Moor, and Dene Community School of Technology in Peterlee.

A Durham County Council spokesman said: "The working group felt a combination of large indoor projects and smaller outdoor schemes was the best way to meet the funding requirements.