TWO rural County Durham communities are sharing a £900,000 windfall to help stimulate economic regeneration.

Craghead Area Partnership, near Stanley, and the Coundon and Leeholme Community Project have been declared Settlement Renewal Initiatives through the Rural Development Programme (RDP) for County Durham.

Each will get £75,000 a year for the next three years, with the equivalent coming from the local projects through match funding.

The deprived areas follow the likes of Wingate/Station Town, Cornforth and the Dene Valley in achieving Settlement Renewal Initiatives status.

The cash was released after both groups made their cases to a panel drawn from One NorthEast, the county council, the Countryside Agency, Durham Rural Community Council, North East Chamber of Commerce and the Groundwork Trust.

Panel member county councillor Brian Walker said: "The two rural community partnerships made strong cases based upon the needs of their localities.

"This funding will greatly help support the economic regeneration of these two communities and assist development in the longer term."

Both groups are appointing a project coordinator to work with local people to develop a three-year programme of appropriate schemes.

The cash will be used primarily for economic projects, such as creating jobs and starting training schemes.