SPORT will be made more accessible to children thanks to a £459m Government scheme.
The PE Sport and Club Links Strategy is a Government initiative that will result in five partnerships in County Durham implementing a three-year development plan.
Each partnership will be given £265,000 funding a year.
The plan aims to improve the lives of young people in education, health, socialisation, citizenship, creativity, physical development and sporting success.
In County Durham the partnerships have devised a development plan which will see all pupils taking part in a minimum of two hours of PE and sport a week.
Councillor Neil Foster, Durham County Council cabinet member for education, said: "This scheme is in its early days and we are now being asked by the Department of Education to indicate how we intend to implement the strategy for the development of the partnerships. We will have this done by the end of April.
"This is an important strategy with significant opportunities for young people in County Durham."
The Government aims to involve every school in the strategy by September 2006.
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