NEARLY £3.5m of Government cash has been earmarked to fight poverty in part of County Durham.

The £3,336,000 will be granted to Derwentside during the next three years to help create jobs, fight crime and improve housing, education and health.

Derwentside District Council must draw up a list of the most deprived areas and come up with a strategy to help those areas before it receives the cash. But the Government has already made £742,000 available to the district for this year as part of its Neighbourhood Renewal Fund programme. That amount will rise to £1,112,000 next year and £1,482,000 the year after that.

In return, the authority will have to show the Government that no area of the district has a domestic burglary rate more than three times the national average, at least 25 per cent of pupils obtain five or more GCSEs at grade A to C, the conception rate among under 18s has fallen, and all social housing is "decent" by 2010.

Non-specific goals of creating more jobs and improving health have also been set.

Now, the authority must decide which wards in the district will receive the cash and come up with a plan of action of how the money should be spent by next month.

The Government will also allow some of the money to be spent in areas not identified as part of a wider strategy.

John Pearson, divisional head of economic and community development at the council, said the programme was part of a national scheme to reduce the gap between the poorest areas and the rest of the country.

He said: "The money is primarily intended to help local authorities improve mainstream services in deprived areas, but it can also support services provided elsewhere."

Meanwhile, a bid has gone in for £1.5m of government cash in a separate scheme for South Stanley, South Moor and Craghead, which has some of the worst unemployment in the district.

The newly formed Green Corridor Neighbourhood Partnership has bid for the Management Path Finder money, and will have control of the budget if the bid is successful.

The group is made up of a number of local community groups and individuals.