A STAR is rising in the east of Darlington.

For the past five years, dedicated volunteers have been training to take over the management of all the council houses on their estate in Springfield.

In six months time, they will find out if their hard work - through the Springfield Tenants and Residents (Star) Co Ltd - has paid off.

The group, which consists of nine Star volunteers, received £50,000 in grants 18 months ago to set up a limited company which would eventually take over the management of the 220 council houses from Darlington Council.

Two ballots have shown the move has the support of most residents. There is one final ballot before the group becomes the tenant management organisation next summer.

If successful, it will become the first such organisation in Darlington and join only one of a handful across the North-East.

Carol Lambird, Star company director and chairman, explained why residents felt it was necessary to take this step.

"Generally, the option to take over the management of council houses has been taken up by residents living on troublesome estates.

"But for us it is quite the opposite. We have low crime rates, we have waiting lists for people wanting to live here and we are very much a community working together.

"The council cannot understand why we want to do this, but we can. By taking over the management of tenancies, we aim to keep it that way.

"In about six months' time we will have finished all the training and we will ballot the residents for a final time.

"The last ballot saw 86pc of residents vote and 83pc of those voted in favour of us continuing. We keep our fingers crossed for a similar outcome next summer."

The £50,000 grant, made up of £37,500 of Government funding and £12,500 of local authority cash, has enabled the group to set up an office in Haughton Youth Centre, manned on Tuesdays and Fridays.

It has also covered the cost of setting up Star as a limited company and paid for extensive training through the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Once running, the company will receive an annual budget from the council to maintain the council properties. Everything except major repairs and the collection of rent arrears will be undertaken by them.

But Star is already looking beyond this role.

"Our vision includes operating an equipment loan service and toy library on the estate, together with the creation of more facilities for youngsters," added Mrs Lambird.

For further information, call the Star office on 01325 354422