A NEW centre for North-East pupils with language and speech problems is up and running.

The facility, at Greencroft School, Annfield Plain, near Stanley, is a result of a partnership between Durham County Council, North Durham NHS Trust and the Association for Speech Impaired Children.

Five youngsters with language or speech disorders have started at the school since it opened earlier this month.

Keith Mitchell, the county council's director of education, said: "This new facility will greatly help the council in implementing its policy of educating pupils with severe and complex special educational needs in our schools wherever possible and appropriate.

"It should also reduce the reliance on expensive out-of-county placements and costly transport arrangements where pupils have to travel outside of County Durham."

The Government's School Access Initiative has supplied the money for the refurbishment programme at Greencroft that will accommodate the scheme.

School headteacher Chris Espiner said the five pupils, who arrived from across the county, had settled in well.

He said: "Once the refurbishment work is complete, Greencroft School is going to have a facility which will be a valuable resource not just for Annfield Plain but for the whole county."