WAR on bad health and poverty has been declared following the allocation of £865,665 of Lottery cash.

Among the first to benefit will be disabled people who will be able to sail every day of the week thanks to £25,540 worth of improvements at Scaling Dam reservoir.

The funding to extend the jetty, install a hoist to lift poeple into crafts, improve disabled facilities and buy a new trailer and racing equipment, came from the Lottery.

Other schemes from the £865,665 Lottery New Opportunities Fund include sports and health projects.

The bid for the cash, compiled by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Redcar Voluntary Development Agency, took two years to complete.

David Walsh, leader of the council, said: "Regrettably we have higher levels of illness and shorter life spans in Redcar and Cleveland than in many other parts of the UK. This is linked to poverty, past employment and attendant lifestyles.

"We must break out of this vicious circle and projects such as these, which target communities in areas like the East Cleveland villages will play a big role in this programme."

Other projects to benefit are: The Bright Life Project which will receive £109,727 for a healthy living centre facilitator and support worker to set up food co-ops and health projects; Exercise on Prescription, which will receive £47,000 for a pilot scheme that includes GP referrals for exercise programmes; Links to Health, which will receive £50,600 for a health worker to set up health courses; Outreach Support, which will receive £97,800 to fund workers to work with victims of domestic violence; The Grange, which will receive £19,427 to help people with mental health problems in the The Grange, Eston; Advice Information and Training for Better Health, which will be given the biggest award of £164,606 to form a two-year pilot partnership with patients at five GP practices in Redcar Health Centre; Safe Children, which will receive £22,375 to improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children in rural East Cleveland; The South Bank Generation Centre and Golden Boy Green sport and health project which will receive £59,605; and Youth Empowerment which gets £95,289 for a youth arts worker and four New Deal recruits to help young people obtain arts qualifications.