MORE than £501m of Lottery money has been pumped into projects in the North-East but, according to research, few people know where it has gone.

A survey by Lottery organiser Camelot reveals that only half the population of the North-East believes that the Lottery benefits ordinary people and changes the nation for the better and only ten per cent can name a local community project that has benefited from funding.

But Camelot says that more than 5,500 projects in the region have benefited from £501m worth of funding from the Lottery in the past few years.

The company commissioned the survey to mark the start of an extensive awareness programme, in partnership with the Good Cause Distribution bodies, on the impact of Lottery funding in the region.

It identifies a major gulf in understanding on how much the North-East has actually received and where the money has gone.

Camelot chief executive Dianne Thompson said: "After seven years there is a great story to tell about the many successes that Lottery funding has created, and this new campaign will be part of an on-going programme to inform the public of the true measure of those successes in their own communities.

"Many people are aware of the major projects, but few really know the genuine value of funding and the real difference it makes to the thousands of small initiatives and community-based projects in the North-East."

Lottery-funded projects in the area range from multi-million pound projects such as the development of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the restoration of Durham's coastline, to helping individual schools buy sports equipment.