MONEY owed to a Teesdale town council by an environmental regeneration group has been paid back.

Barnard Castle Town Council had threatened to take legal action if it was not paid £3,000 it was owed by Groundwork West Durham.

The council had paid Groundwork the money in March 2003 for work upgrading footpaths in Flatts Wood and it was to be reimbursed when Groundwork received grants for the project.

Signs that the council had paid for had also not been put up by Groundwork.

When the council met earlier this month, it agreed to write to Groundwork giving it seven days to repay the money or it would start legal proceedings.

Yesterday, town clerk Geoff Bosworth said the council had received the money.

He said: "No legal action will now be taken as the cheque arrived well within the seven days.

"We still want to have the signs put in and we've had informal discussions with Groundwork about them.

Julie Form, the operations manager for Groundwork West Durham said the group was looking forward to carrying on working with the town council.

She said: "I didn't really think there was ever an issue and the project's going as planned.

"We'll continue to have a good relationship with the town council and hopefully we'll get the project finished as soon as we can."