RUN-DOWN properties in Hartlepool are to benefit from a £25m scheme to breathe life into them.

Last year, Hartlepool New Deal for Communities (NDC) carried out consultation with residents over a Community Housing Plan, which aims to improve housing and the environment in the area over the next eight years.

It is also hoped that the plan will tackle the spiral of decline in town centre housing.

Now the plan is being put into practice and the Endeavour Housing Association and the Guinness Trust Group will work with residents and Hartlepool Borough Council.

The partnership has created the Hartlepool Housing Regeneration Company and it will spearhead a scheme to upgrade 4,000 older terraced properties in the centre of the town, in a bid to provide good quality affordable housing.

Charlie Hughes, chief executive of Endeavour Housing Association, said: "We will be working with local people and bodies across the private and public sectors in order to meet needs and provide affordable accommodation.

"There is no doubt this will be an important, demanding and difficult job. If NDC is to succeed in making lasting improvements, housing market issues must be effectively addressed, and we will be working closely with Hartlepool residents to achieve this."

It is expected that the Community Housing Plan will be finalised in March 2004, once residents and funding bodies have been consulted on outline proposals.

It is also expected that the regeneration company will be fully established by the summer. The company is also being supported by investment from the Housing Corporation.

Malcolm Walker, programme director at NDC, said: "The plan is all about stopping the decline in housing around the centre of Hartlepool. In some areas, there has been a considerable decline over recent years."

A spokesman from the council said: "This is an exciting new initiative to bring about improvements to houses in the town centre."

The properties which will be affected include those owned by occupiers, social and private landlords.