WEAR Valley may be beautiful but the people who live there have one of the highest death rates from heart disease in England.

Andrew Kenworthy, chief executive of the Durham Dales Primary Care Trust, outlined the daunting task facing the partners in the Chance To Live campaign.

"We cover 540 square miles and almost 90,000 people.

"Within that area you have a 47 per cent greater chance of dying from heart disease than the average person. That is completely unacceptable."

But the decision to forge links between the The Northern Echo, the local NHS, Wear Valley District Council and Northumbrian Water to mount a joint healthy living campaign could make a real difference, he said.

"Our common aim is a desire to stop people in the Durham Dales dying from heart disease. We aim to give local people the facilities and the knowledge to make healthy choices for themselves.

"It will have a lot of benefits," he said.

The coming together of the partnership provided "a real catalyst for change.

"We believe this is a beacon of good practice in tackling heart disease across the country," said Mr Kenworthy, whose organisation recently won national awards for heart disease prevention in general practice.

John Lethbridge, chairman of Wear Valley District Council's community services committee, said the high levels of heart disease and infant mortality as well as tobacco, drug and alcohol abuse had an impact on Wear Valley as a place to live, work and play as well as placing an extra strain on local services.

"There is no doubt that extra physical activity would have a positive effect for the individuals concerned," he said.

The three community physical activity workers appointed in Wear Valley in April were already having a significant impact on young people and the 10k road race now attracts many international runners, said Mr Lethbridge, who described the new campaign as "very exciting".

North-East running legend Brendan Foster, who helps to organise the hugely successful Great North Run, backed the campaign and confirmed that this year his company is going to organise the Great North Walk as part of the campaign.

He said: "The Great North Run is a one-day extravaganza and 50,000 people take part.

"You can't just turn up and do it, the commitment to take part makes people do a lot of healthy activity and we are delighted with that."

Northumbrian Water offered fantastic facilities for people who want to enjoy the outdoors, said spokesman John Mowbray.

"The reservoirs of Wear Valley are well known to local people, places like Cow Green Tunstall and Wearhead provide beautiful places for people to walk."

Read more about the A Chance To Live campaign here.