FIVE years ago on Darlington's Skerne Park estate, crime was rife, houses stood empty and self-esteem of residents was at rock bottom.

Then Skerne Park was awarded £3.5m from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and the fortunes of the estate started to turn around.

With additional funding from the public, private and voluntary sectors, more than £10.5m has been made available to Skerne Park over the last five years.

The Skerne Park Partnership, made up of various agencies, community groups and residents, came together to regenerate the estate.

And now residents, who say they felt unable to be proud of their estate, are glad to live there.

Partnership chairman Alan Coultas said: "When the partnership came together, I think everybody concerned was very much aware of the big challenge ahead."

The project was largely driven by housing refurbishment and the need to improve the estate physically.

A total of 248 houses has been refurbished and there are no longer any council houses standing empty.

But there have been many otherachievements.

Training and education opportunities have been opened to residents, culminating in the launch of a UK Online centre in Skerne Park Primary School.

The centre was opened by MP Alan Milburn, who said of the regeneration: "There has been tremendous progress made over the last five years and the SRB money, I can see, has made a great deal of difference."

A crucial piece of work has been in community safety, working with the police, which has resulted in a dramatic reduction in crime.

The Community Enterprise Association has been another vital project, helping people to develop enterprise initiatives on the estate, including Skerne Park Community Caf, a child care centre, tool library and toy centre.

Mr Coultas said: "I think we've succeeded beyond what we probably expected and we've met just about every target that we set for ourselves, which is fantastic