THEY once sparked dread in hundreds of North-East families, but residents living next to the region's opencast mines have gradually realised that fears about their children's health were unfounded.

The results of a survey by the University of Newcastle shows that, after all the protests died down, villagers in County Durham and Wearside learned to live with their industrial neighbours.

The results are published in a report called It Wasn't the Plague We Expected.

A team from the university's School of Population and Health Sciences polled four opencast mining areas - Great Lumley near Chester-le-Street, Evenwood and Ramshaw in Teesdale, Herrington on Wearside, and Amble in Northumberland.

They found that, although many parents were initially concerned about risks to their children's respiratory health from air pollution, many of their worries were not realised.

In fact, a separate study of children's health carried out in the same areas showed that there were no links between dust levels from the mines and asthma, although GPs did see an increase in the number of children coming in for respiratory consultations.

Dr Suzanne Moffatt, who carried out the research, said: "People naturally fear the worst when something like a big opencast mining company comes along and threatens to drastically alter their environment and they expect their worries to be taken seriously."

The study also found that the firms behind new opencast sites did not do enough to persuade residents that there were no dangers.

Many parents surveyed said they had spoken of their anxieties during the planning stage, but felt they had been fobbed off by the opencast companies.

Families were given official evidence from existing sites that showed there were no links with childhood asthma, but they did not trust the statistics.

"Evidence from other areas does not usually take account of specific local or individual factors which can, as people likely reason, make all the difference," said Dr Moffatt.

The study calls on companies to do more to allay fears of opencast mining at the planning stage.

Researcher Dr Tanja Pless-Mulloli said: "We're not saying that people can be easily bought.

"However, many companies can spend up to 20 years working in a locality, so building good relationships with residents is in their interest."