NORTH-EAST businesses are being urged to play a major part in aiding the region's threatened wildlife.

The North-East Biodiversity Forum has arranged a week of activities for companies to highlight how they can take a more active role.

The initiative will include a "biodiversity challenge", in which companies have to install environmentally-friendly measures within a 24-hour period.

Businesses taking part include Walkers, of Peterlee, east Durham, where 60m of timber boardwalk will be built across sand dune habitat at Crimdon.

GlaxoSmithKline, of Barnard Castle, County Durham, is managing three roadside verges in Upper Teesdale, while Electrolux, of Spennymoor, also County Durham, is building 150 nest boxes for barn owls, spotted flycatchers and tree sparrows.