RURAL areas in the North-East are at the forefront of a scheme to help village halls prove their value to the community.

Village hall committees will be working with rural community councils to help them assess the service they provide.

It is hoped the exercise will make committees more successful at funding applications, while the findings will also feed into Action with Communities in Rural England (Acre) policies and its discussions with the Government and other rural agencies.

The research will focus on halls in the Tees Valley area of County Durham and Northumberland, and an initial report will be produced in the summer before the project is implemented in other regions.

"What we are trying to build is an accurate picture of the role these buildings play in community life," said Tees Valley village hall advisor Peter Bryan.

"Then we will be able to track their importance in the wider social and economic context and from there, to inform policy locally and nationally and where necessary make grant applications."

Mr Bryan has already started interviewing village hall trustees for the project, which is funded by the Northern Rock Foundation and Acre.