TRANSPORT, Local Government and the Regions Secretary Stephen Byers will deliver a keynote address at the Coalfields Communities Campaign conference today.
He is expected to review what the Government is doing to help former pit communities in the North-East and elsewhere when he speaks to delegates in South Shields, Tyneside.
As well as Mr Byers, the conference has attracted leading speakers, including Chancellor Gordon Brown's chief advisor, Ed Balls, and South Shield's new Labour MP, David Miliband.
This year's conference is being held in a region where, in the mid-1980s, there were 15 working mines employing nearly 28,000 men.
Today, only a single pit remains, at Ellington, Northumberland, employing 300 miners.
The impact of the closures still persists, with the district of Easington, in County Dur-ham, ranking as one of the most deprived areas in England outside London.
More than 100 delegates representing coalfield communities throughout England, Scotland and Wales will attend the conference.
Over the next three days, they will discuss issues such as education in the coalfields, European funding, miners' health compensation claims, regeneration, coalfield heritage and the future of the remaining coal industry.
Delegates will also have the chance to see examples of regeneration projects around the North-East.
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