A RESOURCE centre which is helping tackle unemployment in a former east Durham mining village has been praised by planners.

The Community Enterprise and Resource Centre at Murton is one of two winners in the 2000 Awards Scheme run by the northern branch of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

The theme for the awards this year is projects that help get people back to work.

The centre was built by Easington District Council as part of a regeneration scheme for the centre of the village.

The judges said the centre was "obviously now an important focal point in the village and making a genuine effort to address the area's unemployment problems".

The other winning scheme was South Tyneside Council's Tedco Business Works development on land near the centre of South Shields.

The scheme created offices, light assembly units and manufacturing units for small businesses.