FORMER mining villages in the region are dying - and will disintegrate in as little as five years if nothing is done to help them, an MP says.

Kevan Jones, member for North Durham, made the comments at the launch of a study he had commissioned into the crisis facing some of the county's rural communities.

He addressed a meeting at Craghead Village Hall, near Stanley, which was packed with local councillors and concerned residents.

"These communities are dying," he said. "Those people who can move out of the villages are moving out.

"If that carries on then the decline will continue. These communities are not dead yet, but give it five years and we will have serious problems."

The housing survey, launched on Thursday, was carried out by experts from Northumbria University in Newcastle. It focused on the villages of Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, and Craghead.

Authors Julie Clarke and Lesley Matthews from the School of Built Environment outlined how the communities suffer from the same problems as deprived inner city areas, but are not given the same level of funding to tackle them.

Drug abuse, anti-social behaviour and vandalism are all highlighted, along with the lack of employment opportunities. Mrs Clarke said that private landlords and bad tenants moving into the areas were not to blame for everything.

"The private rented sector itself is not the cause of the problems - it is a symptom of them," she said.

She suggested a 'strategic response,' with all concerned parties joining together to have a stronger voice in lobbying for Government aid. The report received a cautious welcome from Durham County Council. Coun David Hodgson, lead cabinet member for regeneration, voiced fears about it becoming caught in red tape.

"My worry with these types of reports is that we end up setting up sub committees of sub committees and groups of groups," he said.

Mr Jones promised action. "The report was never intended to come up with all the answers," he said.

"I don't intend to let it sit on a dusty shelf. What I want it to do is help pull together the councils and all the other agencies.

"Some hard questions have got to be asked about who is doing what and how we can actually get these groups working together.

"In Craghead, there are some tough decisions to be made - maybe demolition in parts.

"People might not like my style of politics, but if we rattle cages and get things happening, then we are making progress."