FUNDING has been obtained to create three drop-in cyber cafes in the Sedgefield borough.

A £28,000 grant has been secured from the UK Online Centre initiative by Sedgefield Borough Council to purchase computer equipment for cyber cafes in Ferryhill, Shildon and Spennymoor.

As part of the same package, £55,000 is being provided from the New Opportunities Fund over three years for revenue costs, which will mainly pay for staff.

The move follows the success of the Coffee Bean cyber caf in Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre, which opened last August.

Bernd Bangel, youth services coordinator at Sedgefield Borough Council, said: "We thought we would expand that concept and started thinking about other locations within the borough."

The cyber cafe in Ferryhill will be provided in partnership with the town council, and located in a youth facility.

Premises in the Market Place have already been identified and the project is well under way.

One of the other two cafes will be located at Shildon's Sunnydale Leisure Centre. The location of the Spennymoor cafe has yet to be decided.

Mr Bangel said the cafes would be first-stop shops.

"We are trying to attract people who would not normally go near a computer deliberately," he said.

"But in the environment of a town centre or a leisure centre there will be people just dropping in and not coming especially to use the IT facilities.

"This is probably one of the few areas where young people have much more experience, so they can teach older people how to use the facilities."

Jamie Corrigan, executive officer at Ferryhill Town Council, said the news highlighted the benefits of a partnership approach.

The town's computer facility was developed by the town, borough and county councils, as well at the Ferryhill Community Partnership and the Ferryhill Youth Forum.

He said: "It shows that when there are so many people working together they get their just rewards."

Mr Corrigan said that refurbishment on the Ferryhill cafe site would start soon.

"The most gratifying part of it is that every single member of the youth forum has volunteered to do their bit, along with members of the partnership," he said