A NORTH-EAST council estate that has become big in Japan was visited by a team of impressed professors from the country yesterday.

Skerne Park estate, in Darlington, was featured four years ago in Social Enterprise and Revitalisation of the Community, a book by leading Japanese academic Professor Junji Nakagawa.

Prof Nakagawa, who discovered the estate via a contact in York, held up Skerne Park as an example of successful regeneration that Japan should imitate.

In the past, the estate had a troubled reputation - although investment in housing and facilities has changed perceptions.

Despite that, the area suffers the third most anti-social behaviour in Darlington and, in the past year, has experienced a 57 per cent increase in thefts from cars, a 40 per cent increase in burglaries and a 31 per cent rise in criminal damage.

Yesterday, a team of five from the Fukuyama City College for Women, near Hiroshima, visited the estate's Coleridge Centre, which was opened in March last year.

The £4.5m building includes a primary school, nursery, adult learning centre, and Sure Start centre. It also runs a number of community activities.

Lecturer Toshiro Sato, from the university, said: "We are so impressed by the people who are working for these social enterprises.

"This kind of activity is low in Japan. In Fukuyama, we don't just want to teach, we want to be involved in community activities.

"We have serious problems with an ageing society and a low birth rate, and vitality is weakening.

"We are looking at the best way to revitalise the community.

"We are enjoying our visit and have learned a lot to help us in our field."

The

visitors were particularly impressed with the Coleridge Centre's fruit and vegetables cooperative, where residents place a weekly order, and also by the tool library.

Marjory Knowles, community economic development manager based at the centre, said: "We received a phone call, asking if they could visit, and of course we were excited. It's a big compliment to be recognised."

The Coleridge Centre may also feature in a television programme in September, made by Japan's equivalent of the BBC.

Councillor Cyndi Hughes, who represents the area at Darl- ington Borough Council, said: "The centre is not just famous in Japan, it is famous in the region.

"The community nursery, for example, which they pulled off with community funding, is really recognised.

"They are doing great work. What they do is fabulous, and I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves. It is in the vanguard."

The Japanese party also visited a similar centre in Sunderland on Monday, and will go to Glasgow and London during a two-week tour.