A REGENERATION group has been set up to tackle deprivation in Wear Valley and attract hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment.

Government funding worth £854,000 is to be pumped into the district over the next year, which will be spent on everything from crime to health problems in an effort to regenerate the area.

On Monday, a partnership of councillors, business leaders and health professionals will meet for the first time to decide how to spend the money and raise the standard of living for people in Wear Valley.

The Local Strategic Partnership's purpose is to decide exactly where and how the money should be spent. However, it has already been decided that £20,000 of the grant will be spent on expanding the community centre at Tow Law; £174,000 will be spent on tackling health issues such as tackling teenage pregnancies; and £19,000 will go on tackling crime.

Burglary hot spots in the district will be given wardens who will patrol streets to deter crime and improve their appearance by reporting maintenance problems.

Wear Valley District Council leader, Councillor Olive Brown said: "We are going to be able to do things in the district and make it a better place to live in, a better place to visit and a better place environmentally and educationally. The Local Strategic Partnership is to do with getting all the major players in the area to come together."

More grants from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund will follow in the next three to four years, with the next Government instalment amounting to £1.28m. Another agency is also being set up to make Wear Valley more attractive to businesses.

On Wednesday, Wear Valley councillors approved plans to set up the Wear Valley Development Agency, which will help local businesses find grants and attract other employers to the area.

The agency will be based at the business centre at South Church, with hopefully two other branches at Crook Business Centre and the Durham Dales Centre, in Stanhope.

Coun Brown said: "We hope to get all these little groups dealing with businesses into one organisation, so it's like a one-stop shop. Hopefully, it will attract more investment and business."