NORTHERN Rock Foundation has announced four new awards totalling £1.5 million as part of its final programme of work.

The charity has awarded grants of £375,000 each to the region’s four community foundations in the North-East and Cumbria.

Tees Valley and County Durham Community Foundations will use the funding to create a new fund within each of their endowed funds which will then provide annual grants in perpetuity for disadvantaged people.

County Durham Community Foundation will use the grant as a Heritage through the Arts endowment match fund, using the £375,000 to uplift donations by 50 per cent.

Grants would be distributed as a percentage of the fund after a year’s investment to projects that combine local heritage with ideas to tackle disadvantage, improve social skills and raise aspirations in County Durham and Darlington.

Mark I’Anson, chairman of County Durham Community Foundation, said: "We believe this will add real value to the vision for County Durham and Darlington as a cultural and heritage centre and leave an important legacy for the Northern Rock Foundation.

"We hope to be able to raise match funds to make a total endowed fund of £1.125 million.”

The Tees Valley Community Foundation will set up a new fund within their endowed Cleveland Fund which will make grants of up to £1,000 to groups in the communities of Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland.

Huw McGouran, chief executive of Tees Valley Community Foundation, said: “Northern Rock Foundation has been part of the fabric of our region for a generation and it is a great honour for our organisation to take the baton and maintain the name and legacy of a great northern institution into the 21st century.”

Alastair Balls, chairman of Northern Rock Foundation, said: “These grants are part of the Foundation’s legacy programme and ensure that the last of the foundation’s funding provides long term benefit for current and future generations across the North-East and Cumbria."

The foundation closed its main grant programmes in December 2014 after failing to raise cash from local businesses.

Before its closure, the charity says it will hand out special awards to achieve a long-term positive impact on children's lives.