RURAL parishes in Darlington have been told they should have their own youth worker in place by Easter.

A round of interviews for a rural youth worker had taken place before Christmas.

None of them were successful and the council has had to re-advertise the post

Mervyn Bell, head of youth service at Darlington Borough Council, told a meeting of the Darlington Association of Parish Councils he expected the new youth worker to be in post by Easter.

The appointment is one of several improvements the youth service is making following a damning Ofsted report last May.

The service was given an extra £340,000 to spend following the report.

Mr Bell said the council was working to attract more youth work volunteers and would provide the training needed.

Councillor Doris Jones, from Middleton St George parish council, said: "There are lots of kids that are not out on the streets that would like to get out.

"How are you finding those?

"The trouble is they need to know what's going on."

Mr Bell said the council was working on a text message service to alert children to activities, and there was also a regular youth page in the Town Crier.

It was pointed out that up until a few months ago, many parishes did not receive the Town Crier.