THE last sad remnants of a once popular holiday destination will soon be swept away in the first step towards restoring a coastal resort to its former glory.

The renaissance of Crimdon is to begin with a £700,000 investment programme aimed at breathing new life into the east Durham beauty spot.

Up to the 1970s, the wide sandy beaches of Crimdon, saw mining families and day trippers flock to the area in their thousands.

At the height of its popularity, there was rarely a space to be found in its car park, where there was space for 1,200 vehicles.

Holidaymakers packed into the site's giant lido and for more than a decade there was an annual scramble to get the best seat at the open-air Miss Crimdon beauty contest.

But the decline of the coal industry and the growing trend towards foreign holidays took their toll on Crimdon.

It was reduced to the tattered ruins of the lido, weed-infested car park and a few frayed relics of a bygone time.

But the £10m Turning the Tide project cleaned up 14km of beaches, giving them protected status and leaving Crimdon poised majestically at its southern gateway.

Now, thanks to funding from the Millennium Commission, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Easington District Countryside Agency and the Durham Heritage Coast partnership, a major regeneration programme will this week get under way at Crimdon.

The first phase of the scheme will see the creation of wetland areas, the removal of derelict buildings, the development of access paths through the dunes and the return of the car park to grassland, as well as the introduction of visitor facilities.

For county councillor Alan Cox, who represents the area, the project will mark the re-awakening of a "sleeping giant".

He said: "I remember Crimdon in its heyday from the 1950s to the 1970s and am looking forward to seeing it come back to life, albeit in a very different guise."

Crimdon's final destiny is to rest firmly with the east Durham community, whose residents are being closely consulted over what they would like to see at the site.

Coun Cox hopes that a heritage centre will figure highly on the wish list and, who knows, there may even be a new Miss Crimdon.