NORTH-WEST Durham's own Spice girl has announced plans to find out the opinions of the district's young people.

Derwentside District Council has appointed Sharon Robinson as project officer to run the Special Project to Implement Children's Elections (Spice).

She will develop a system of online voting and opinion testing of young people by working with pupils and teachers in schools.

She hopes that the scheme will raise young people's awareness of information and communication technology. Pupils aged between four and 18 will have the chance to be involved.

The project will run until March 2003. Any schools wanting to take part should call (01207) 218242. The Spice website will be launched shortly