PLANS have been finalised for a special street care team funded by a Darlington Borough Council cash windfall.

The team will begin work next month, carrying out essential repairs around the borough.

The new team is being funded by £100,000 of the £2.2m cash bonus which the council received after a lengthy arbitration dispute with Durham County Council.

Darlington successfully claimed the cash as its share of a £12m local development fund, which was held by Durham when the two authorities split up in a political reorganisation in 1997.

Legal arguments are continuing over who should receive the interest earned during the battle.

When Darlington council won the arbitration it pledged to spend £300,000 on "citizen priorities" - the first of which is the street care team.

A decision was made to set up the team when it was realised that street furniture, such as cast iron bollards, signposts and chain railings, around the town was not regularly maintained.

The team will deal with priority jobs and then work around the town undertaking a range of minor repairs, from painting lampposts, signs and yellow road lines to tarmac patching, footpath maintenance, litter and fly-tipping removal.

Many of these jobs are presently only dealt with if members of the public report them, or if they noticed during council inspections. Council leader John Williams said: "The money received following the arbitration ruling is money that always belonged to Darlington people, so it is only fair that a large part of that money should be spent on things that they believe are important."