A SCHOOL which became the first in the region to gain specialist arts college status has launched its £1.2m offshoot.

Greenfield School's Community Arts Centre is expected to give Newton Aycliffe added importance as a leading venue for the visual and performing arts in South West Durham.

Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the centre new status as a focus for the arts when he visited Greenfield last week, bringing prestige to a new town once dubbed a cultural desert.

The building was developed in response to a survey which identified the north west part of Newton Aycliffe as lacking in arts and community facilities.

Greenfield sought to remedy the situation and strengthen the artistic links it was already developing with the community by seeking National Lottery funding to help finance a new arts centre.

To help with funding, the school teamed up with the Arts Council, Durham County Council, Great Aycliffe Town Council, the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, Bishop Auckland College, County Durham Training and Enterprise Council, Sedgefield Borough Council and Northern Arts.

Headteacher David Tate said the new facilities, with those already in the school, would bring mutual benefits to the school and wider community.

He said: "It is an exciting opportunity for the development of the arts and we are proud to have worked with our partners in bringing about this excellent cultural learning facility."

Councillor Don Robson, leader of Durham County Council, which funded a £190,000 music suite at the school, said: "These new facilities complete a move from one end of the cultural spectrum to the other. I am sure it will allow a lot of untapped artistic talent to flourish."

Peter Hewitt, chief executive of the Arts Council for England, said: "Greenfield School Community and Arts College is an important initiative for the Arts Council, as it demonstrates the powerful part that the arts can play in the community renewal."

A key factor in the development of the arts provision in the town has been the appointment of community arts co-ordinator Jo Anne Mason