Tax breaks for thousands of sports clubs will be worth between £1,000 and £3,000 to a typical amateur organisation.

Britain's 100,000 clubs will be entitled to 80 per cent rates relief and will also benefit from the doubling of the threshold at which they start paying corporation tax, to £50,000.

Peter McPartland, vice-chairman and coach at Bishop Auckland Amateur Boxing Club, said: "This is fantastic news. For a club like ours, every single penny counts, so 80 per cent rates relief will be a big chunk which can be spent on things like more sporting equipment and taking boxers away for events."

Spennymoor United, which celebrates its centenary next year, had debts of almost £300,000 when it was rescued by businessman Benny Mottram last year.

It now has no debts but the average crowds of between 200 and 250 at the Brewery Field are not enough for the club to break even, and Mr Mottram's money is still keeping it afloat.

Meanwhile, about £406m of new money will be directed at councils to help them with next year's spending on key services and their council tax dilemmas.

This adds to the £420m promised last month by John Prescott's department in the local government funding settlement and follows lobbying from the Local Government Association for extra cash.

With regards to devolution, the Chancellor supported plans - being spearheaded by The Northern Echo - to relocate 20,000 civil service jobs out of London.

Elliott Ward, managing director of City & Northern, which has just started developing the Morton Palms site by the A66 in Darlington, described the Chancellor's commitment as "great news".

Work on the £7m first phase of the 28-acre Morton Palms site will be complete by this time next year and the firm is hoping to bring about 700 jobs to the town.

Alistair Arkley, chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership, which is supporting the Devolve to Darlington campaign, also welcomed Mr Brown's announcement.

He said: "I am pleased to see he is going to be supporting the concept of moving 20,000 jobs out of Whitehall, and that should bode well for the North-East and the Tees Valley in particular."

Mandatory skills training for the long-term jobless and full employment plans for all the regions were among the measures in the Pre-Budget Report.

The Government's flagship New Deal job creation scheme is to be re-targeted with £190m to help improve the skills of workers and jobseekers.

As well as the extra money for councils, hospitals will also continue to receive record amounts.

Part of a £1bn investment for the young, which includes plans to create 1,000 children's centres, is a pledge to promote the provision of employer-supported childcare to help people balance their work and family lives.