PLANS for a £1.2m training centre were announced yesterday.

It will provide courses in building trades, such as bricklaying and plumbing, as well as gardening, computing and music for young people in Barnard Castle.

It will be run by Teesdale Community Resources, a charity which will sell its present premises in the town as a site for ten flats to help fund the venture on the enterprise park on the edge of town.

Keith Jones, an education worker who runs the charity, said: "The trade training will be a major benefit to many teenagers in years to come, and will also help many small firms in the area. It will be the first time this training has been available in the area."

The present site in Birch Road, where car maintenance, music, film animation and dance have been taught, is to be sold to the Three Rivers Housing Group, which is to build ten two-bedroom flats for rent. It has applied for permission for the scheme and it is expected to go ahead without difficulty.

Other funding is expected to come from Durham County Council and regional development agency One NorthEast.