A PLAN that sets out a 20-year vision for County Durham was launched yesterday.

The document aims to make "dynamic Durham" a great county to live, work, visit and invest in by 2023.

Prime Minister Tony Blair attended the launch, which was held during the formal handing over of the multi-million pound NetPark Research Institute, in Sedgefield.

The draft document was launched in April last year and has been subject to widespread consultation, in which every person in the county was invited to have a say.

Groups backing the plan include the Chamber of Commerce, Sport England, NHS trusts, local authorities, development agency One NorthEast, Durham Constabulary, Durham Fire and Rescue, the Race Equality Council and Durham University.

Durham County Council's leader, Councillor Ken Manton, said: "The vision is unique in the county's history and will serve as the key tool in shaping its future."

The plan hinges on 12 challenges:

* Providing world-class schools by improving all school premises, boosting numbers in further education and giving young people access to opportunities.

* Making the NetPark the hub of the county's technology-led economy.

* Boosting tourism by developing Durham City and creating attractions in coastal and rural locations.

* Expanding shopping and leisure by boosting shopping facilities and increasing the number and range of stores.

* Improving the health of local people by cutting the number of deaths from heart disease, stroke and cancer.

* Increasing the use of public transport and dealing with road congestion.

* Replacing and improving houses to meet the Government's "decent homes" standard by 2010.

* Providing easy access to services promoting healthy, caring, diverse and balanced communities.

* Giving quality choices to people leaving school.

* Developing computer-connected "community hubs" serving towns and villages.

* Increasing the capacity of voluntary groups to work with more people.

* Improving the environment in former pit villages and aiming to generate ten per cent of electricity from renewable sources.

Coun Manton said: "The vision describes sustainable improvements that can be made without making things worse for future generations or environments, communities or economies, either here or in other parts of the world.

"The whole document is underpinned by a determination to ensure that community needs and aspirations are met and much-needed investment is brought into the county.

"Put simply, in 2023, we want a quality of life in County Durham that is second-to-none anywhere in the country."

Mr Blair endorsed the vision for the region, describing it as "a very exciting moment for County Durham".

He recalled a meeting at Durham County Hall in the 1980s, when former leader Mick Terrans, a union branch official in the 1926 General Strike, said the coal industries were finished and that it was time to look to the future.

Mr Blair said: "From that time on, I could feel County Durham beginning to change."