A VILLAGE is setting up an information service that could be copied elsewhere in Britain.

A website will let people living in Gainford, near Barnard Castle, receive and exchange news.

It will be based in the village hall, where a number of computers will also be installed, and will act as a pilot for similar schemes expected to be set up in villages in the area before spreading to other parts of the country.

The website - www.gainfordonline.net - will be launched by local MP Derek Foster on Thursday, February 10.

It will contain information about bus timetables, details of local businesses, as well as news about crime in the village, the times of church services and sporting fixtures.

The website will also contain details about local organisations and their events, planning applications, council decisions and school activities.

Ian Clethero, an information technology expert who lives in the village, is setting up the project.

He said: "It will include every type of information that is of value to the local population. Firms will pay for adverts to help defray the cost.

"It is a unique system that is causing a lot of interest in other places. I think we will be called on to create similar sites for many other communities in various parts of the UK."

Mr Clethero, managing director of Secure Communication Technologies, in Barnard Castle, said it would usually cost thousands of pounds to produce software for the project, but he is doing it for a nominal fee.

A grant of £1,900 has been given by the Teesdale Village Halls Consortium, whose co-ordinator, Fergus Arkley, said: "I think it is a great idea. Once it starts we will give a presentation about it to eight other villages.

"I feel the idea will spread not only in this area but to villages in many other parts of the country because it can be so useful to a lot of residents."