SNAPshots of life on a Bishop Auckland estate taken by young people may help to secure European funding for the area.

Youngsters from the Henknowle estate have been set the challenge of photographing the positive and negative aspects of life in their community by regeneration group Groundwork West Durham.

The photographs will form an exhibition being staged next Thursday, which will run in conjunction with a survey of local peoples' opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of living in Henknowle.

The community appraisal has been commissioned by Wear Valley District Council, to help the local authority secure European grant funding for the regeneration of the south Bishop Auckland area.

The council's director of regeneration, Bob Hope, said an action plan will be developed from the appraisal and used to bid for European funding for 11 Wear Valley council wards.

Mr Hope said: "What the kids are doing now is documenting conditions, which is a good way of fitting young people's ideas into the appraisal. If the bid is successful, then this money will be available for 11 of our 21 wards, which won't be a small sum of money for the district."

The photographic exhibition will be on display at Henknowle Community Centre, from 7pm to 9pm.