WORK will start soon on a multi-million pound regeneration scheme on a derelict estate in Willington.

Private and housing association developments on the Dene Estate will replace homes built in the 1920s which had become unattractive to prospective council tenants.

The Three Rivers Housing Group is spending £891,000 building 15 two and three-bedroomed bungalows for retired and disabled people.

Persimmon Homes plans to build more than 100 properties in the surrounding area in the next few years.

Three years ago, Wear Valley District Council shocked tenants by announcing that the estate should be bulldozed because so few people wanted to live there.

With a quarter of the homes empty and difficult to let, the estate was plagued by vandals and drug users.

Since then, nearly 170 council houses have been demolished, although the area remains unsightly because some boarded-up homes have to stay until the estate's last remaining dozen residents move out.

Arson attacks are frequent and at least one mother was so worried that she sent her children to sleep with relatives every night.

A spokeswoman for Willington Community Partnership said: "We have to leave the gas and electricity on for them and the houses cannot be demolished until the supplies are turned off.

"Once the development happens, people will be a lot happier. It will be good to see something done with what was once a run-down estate.

"It was apparently one of the best estates of its time when it was first built."

The council's director of housing, Frank Bouweraerts, said: "The development at the Dene Estate marks the beginning of revitalisation of the area. There are other various initiatives that we will by carrying out in Willington, and this will contribute towards the general improvement of the area."

A residents' ballot this summer will decide whether Bourne Way, less than half a mile from Dene Estate, will also be regenerated.

If householders agree to the scheme, Three Rivers will begin demolishing houses, building new ones and carrying out maintenance work on the remaining properties.