A NORTH Durham village will get an early Christmas gift when work begins next week to give its streets a makeover.

Durham County Council starts work on a £103,000 scheme in Front Street, Craghead, near Stanley, on Monday.

Workmen will tear out rough concrete and tarmac and install new paving and street furniture.

The scheme will also create laybys and promontories, renew kerbs and replace the bus shelter.

It follows a public consultation exercise when villagers gave their views on what improvements they wanted to see.

New flagstones and textured setts will be laid in Front Street and part of Provident Terrace.

The pavement will be extended to improve visibility at the Craghead Victory Social Club and a promontory created further along Front Street near the pizza shop to provide for the new bus stop.

New dark green, cast iron railings and bollards will be installed and a shrub planter provided near the new bus shelter.

Funding for the work comes from the county council's Urban Renaissance and Local Transport Plan budgets.

Extra cash was provided from local county councillor David Marshall, environmental group Groundwork West Durham, and the Green Corridor Neighbourhood Partnership, with support from the Craghead Area Partnership.

The contractor is Service Direct - the county council's construction arm - and the work, which will be suspended over Christmas, is expected to take ten weeks.