TWO key appointments have provided signs that the long-awaited regeneration of Bishop Auckland's shopping and business heart is at last under way.

A new town centre manager is waiting to take up his post, giving a shot in the arm to the commercial fortunes of the Newgate Street area.

Kenneth Wilson, 49, is at present working in a similar role in Richmond, North Yorkshire and worked in North Shields from 1996 to 1997.

Meanwhile, Meg Brown has started working for Bishop Auckland Community Partnership, as director of the £1.2m Four Clocks Project, to create a community centre and caf in the former John Wesley Centre, in Newgate Street.

And while some shoppers are still enjoying their summer holidays, the town's biggest supermarket is asking them to think ahead to giving Bishop Auckland's Christmas celebrations a huge boost.

Morrison's has teamed up with the Bishop Auckland Town Centre Forum to launch a Christmas Lights Appeal which it hopes will brighten up the Newgate Street area at the busiest time of the year.

From Monday, until September 2, the store is asking shoppers to hand over their £1 car park tickets to the appeal instead of reclaiming the cash at the checkout.

The Bishop Auckland Town Centre Forum has already approved a new regeneration strategy and landscaping designs, a new car parking plan and details of property improvement schemes are on display until Friday in Bishop Auckland Town Hall library.

Retailer Asda is committed to a £2m refurbishment of the Newgate Centre when it builds a new store at Wilson's Forge.

The Bishop of Durham's park at Auckland Castle could receive a visitor-friendly makeover if a council-led National Lottery bid goes ahead.

Forum vice-chairman Councillor Barbara Laurie said: "Things are starting to happen at last and we are all very excited.

"We have been working very hard behind the scenes for a long time and now it is all coming together. There is a real spirit of renewal in the town."