MILLIONS of pounds of regeneration money could come to run-down areas of County Durham thanks to a new way of calculating need.

The Government has abandoned the Index of Deprivation, used for several years in assessing funding bids, and replaced it with the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The old way of defining deprivation favoured inner city areas, but Durham County Council successfully argued it did not take account of rural poverty.

Under the new criteria, 46 council wards across the county fall within the top ten per cent most deprived wards in the country.

County Durham councillors and officials are hoping that Government recognition of the county's problems will mean more money for regeneration schemes.

The county's assistant director of economic development, John Ashby, said: "It is worth literally millions of pounds to the county. It is a change for the better.

"In the past it was a matter of numbers of people in a particular area, which favoured cities with big populations.

"But, if you are in a small community, 30 per cent unemployment is very bad, even if it is three out of ten people."

The authority pressed for a fairer Single Regeneration Budget system and council leader Don Robson told the executive committee that the new system was "a lot better than we have had. We must take advantage of it.