RESIDENTS of former mining villages yesterday welcomed a housing study that has looked at ways of regenerating their communities.

Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, commissioned the survey in an attempt to arrest the decline of North-East pit villages.

The study, by students from the School of Built Environment at Northumbria University, in Newcastle, looked at the former mining communities of South Moor and Craghead, near Stanley, and Grange Villa.

Mr Jones said: "There has been very little research into what has happened to communities in villages like Craghead and Grange Villa after the demise of the coal industry.

"There are certain problems that need addressing and the findings raise a number of issues.

"Low demand and private landlord housing is of great concern, but other areas have also been identified which will be of relevance to a number of authorities, including police and health bodies.

"I hope the launch of the study will see ways emerge in which we can all start working with the local communities to improve the environment.

"Grange Villa and Craghead are not alone in the problems they confront and this will apply to many former mining communities across County Durham."

He will announce the results of the housing study at Craghead Village Hall, near Stanley, on Thursday, August 29, at 11am.

Jeannette Thompson, secretary of the South Moor Partnership, welcomed the move.

She said: "A lot of people at the bottom end of South Moor who have mortgages have seen their property devalued. That is down to the problems we have got.

"Bad housing can mean bad health. We hope the study will help bring housing up to a reasonable living standard."

But Trevor Dixon, head of the Derwentside Private Landlords' Association, said no one had involved his group in the study.

He said: "They are making private landlords the scapegoats. They should have approached us. If they want to make a genuine effort, they should have involved everyone.

"We have no objections to meeting with any of these people. They are welcome to speak at our meetings, where we have a chance to defend ourselves."

He said the association was already working to combat the problem, adding: "We have proved in the past that we have reduced the number of bad tenants in our properties.

"We have a tenants' performance list, so if a member has had to evict someone from a property, we ensure they will not get another house from any of our members.

"A lot of our members are landlords who only rent out one property and they join us to protect themselves against bad tenants. The trouble is that there are rogue landlords who are not members of our association and live outside the area."